NATO airstrike undermines U.S. goals in Pakistan

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NATO airstrike undermines U.S. goals in Pakistan
By Karin Brulliard
Wednesday, October 6, 2010

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - U.S. officials in Pakistan have spent much of the past year toiling to bolster the country's elected government and perhaps improve the United States' image along the way. But much of the progress made toward those goals may have been swept away with the firing of two NATO missiles last week, officials and politicians here said.

The helicopter strike, which Pakistan says killed three of its soldiers, is widely seen here as proof that the U.S. alliance with Pakistan is based solely on self-serving security interests. And it may have put the United States in the position of destabilizing the weak government it wants to fortify, by giving President Asif Ali Zardari's many critics another reason to say he is allowing Pakistan to be an American pawn.

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Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said results of the probe are expected to be released Wednesday, adding that the relationship between the Pentagon and the Pakistani military is "stronger than it ever has been."

Privately, the Obama administration and U.S. military have appeared exasperated by Pakistan's response to the strike. Senior military officials eschewed the apologies and compensation that normally follow inadvertent coalition killings of civilians, noting that the three killed were not civilians and that the United States is not in the habit of compensating the families of soldiers who fire on U.S. forces. The officials said no substantive move will be taken until the probe is completed.

more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/05/AR2010100505498.html