Washington, January 24: Dismissing the remarks by the Pakistani military on the November 26 deadly NATO cross border strike, the US on Monday said it stands by its own investigation that it was not an unprovoked firing by the US-led forces.
“This (Pakistan military remarks) does not change our believes in the validity of the findings. The statement that this was an unprovoked attack by American forces is simply false,” Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt John Kirby said.
“This was not an unprovoked attack. We have said this many many times. There were errors made on both sides here,” he told reporters.
Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said that Pakistan officially communicated with it on its own findings over the weekend before going public today.
Asserting that the US stands “100 per cent” by the investigation done by a top general from the Central Command (CENTOCM) released last month, Kirby said the US had desired Pakistani participation in that investigation, which then would have been more thorough.
Pakistan’s absence from participation in the CENTCOM investigation, Kirby said: “does not change our firm believe in the validity of the findings of the investigations that we did”.
The most important thing is that the Pentagon now wants to get past all this and wants to build a good co-operative relationship with the Pakistani military.
“We still believe that co-ordination and communication with the Pakistani military particularly across that border remains vital to our success in Afghanistan. We are still very committed to this relationship and getting it on the right track,” Kirby said.
PTI