A report by military investigators was delivered to General Ashfaq Kayani on Sunday by a US officer based in Islamabad, who explained the findings to the general, Pentagon spokesman Captain John Kirby told reporters.
The full report from the joint US-NATO investigative team was not released publicly until Monday to allow time for the Pakistani leadership to read the findings first, Kirby said.
"We wanted General Kayani to be able to see the entire thing," he said. The approach represented "an appropriate professional courtesy" to Kayani, he added.
A summary of the report was released Thursday and the officer who led the investigation, Brigadier General Stephen Clark, briefed reporters by phone the same day.
The air strikes have damaged the precarious US-Pakistani partnership and provoked outrage in Islamabad, which has retaliated by cutting off NATO supply routes to Afghanistan.
The United States and Pakistan disagree about the precise sequence of events in the deadliest single cross-border attack of the 10-year war in Afghanistan.
Pakistan denies shooting first, and has accused the Americans of an intentional attack on its troops.
The US report provides more details on the November 25-26 air strikes that Clark says were the result of a series of mistakes and botched communications on both sides -- reflecting an underlying mistrust between the two countries.
It took the NATO-led force 84 minutes to halt air strikes after a Pakistani liaison officer first alerted US and coalition counterparts that Pakistani troops were coming under fire from American aircraft, the report said.
The probe also said the US military had failed to notify the Pakistanis in advance of the night raid near the border and that a coalition officer mistakenly gave the wrong location of the US troops to his Pakistani counterpart.
The probe found that Pakistani soldiers fired first at American and Afghan forces and kept firing even after a US F-15 fighter jet flew overhead. And the Pakistanis failed to tell the Americans about new borders posts in the area.
(Read: Beyond the Salala probe)
COMMENTS (15)
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@Agnostic Muslim:
Why do you think the Americans decided to conduct the operation the way they did?
Every single NATO helicopter is equipped with GPS & may be other form of advanced navigational system which makes it impossible to commit "unintended mistakes". It will be really naive to say that a Country that is able to operate drones from thousands of mile away which according to them have pin point accuracy failed to identify the PAK border post between PAK & AF.
@Cautious:
Pakistan is under no obligation to share anything with the US regarding the Abbottabad report. The crimes committed in that instance were committed by the US - backstabbing Pakistan and carrying out an illegal military operation on Pakistani territory.
sacrifices were offered for ten years, what happened suddenly,it has created wide range doubts, efforts are being to remove doubts but the matter stand still, it would take more time but admitted fact is that it depend on American trend going to appear in coming days.
One sided investigation was not acceptable, it has more created distance between the bilateral relations between two nuclear armed countries. Pakistan army chief disagreed that is right.
Americans say that they have STATE OF THE ART facility for targeting the TERRORISTS. Technology though which they can see the number plate of a vehicle from thousand of kilometer so how can there is any chance of MISTAKE in identifying the Army/ Militant check post ???
The people dont need to see the report we its great on English language but faulty on logic.
I don't think they are dumb enough that they didn't know Pakistani border posts?? this is a lie.. And for the fact I think Taliban never take a risk to make a post on top of hill as they can be easily targeted.. Its all bunch of lies from the Liars.
@Paki-Australian: This was 4th or 5th unintended mistake by US/ NATO and every time the no. of Pakistani causalities get higher. You are taking the blood of your solders so low. If Pakistan will not take a strong stand against this aggression, it will become a norm.
@Paki-Australian:
It seems there is a real difficulty in defining who the real enemy is. Both sides think it is someone different.
Smart thing for my country would be to accept it was a mutual unintended mistake and move on! It's in our best interest to work with US to eradicate terrorists in Afganistan/Pak.
Pakistan needs to drop the attitude, America needs to be more vigilant with planning attacks.
Let's works together to fight the common enemy.
So he is talking to Americans again after all the bad blood? He should end fooling Pakistanis now and admit there is no way Pakistan Military can live without Americans.
why does US treat pak like a legitimate nation and submit reports..??when it was pak that orchestrated the whole attack to get money out of US...afte US stoppped giving alms to pak, pakis thought of next best way to get money out of US..kill their own and get money from US by blaming them....US knows this but tolerates it until they leave in 2014...then they will make sure pak gets what it deserves..hahah
I hope you have the courtesy to give the American's a face to face meeting to review the findings of your Abbottabad Commission Report --- BTW hows that report coming along?