THE Pakistan military has issued its reaction to the American analysis of the Nov 26 Nato strike in which 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed. The technical details and sequence of events it contains are interesting enough, but their implications were already well-known: the military believes its men were intentionally targeted and does not accept the American assertion that US soldiers came under fire first. What is more striking about this reply is its tone, which goes far beyond frustration at a difficult relationship. Pakistan’s perspective in it is that of a so-called ally that no longer believes the other side is a friendly one. With a tone that can only be described as one of outrage, the response states that the US hides information about operations and must have known about the location of the Pakistani posts, directly accuses the Americans of being dishonest about the sequence of events and indirectly implies that the US meant to target Pakistani soldiers. An introduction that recalls previous incidents of cross-border fire indicates that frustration has been building over the issue for some time, and that the November incident was seen as the last straw. The Pentagon’s response the same day did not help, coming as early as it did and categorically rejecting the claim that the attack was unprovoked.

In sum, one does not come away with the impression that these two militaries are fighting on the same side. An apology from the US might have helped, but the situation has now degenerated into a he-said, she-said scenario. And the real problem it highlights, beyond communication failures and chain-of-command issues, is just how deeply suspicious the two sides are of each other, at least at the military level. The US report acknowledges that because of mistrust Pakistan was not informed of the American operation as per standard operating procedure, and Pakistan clearly believes the American report is an exercise in duplicity. If these exchanges are any indication, it seems that it is now up to the political leaderships to try to get the relationship back on track.