Troops allowed to enter Pakistan without notice

Several instances of attacks
Capt. Scott Horrigan, a former company commander at Camp Tillman, an outpost about a mile inside Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province, told the AP earlier this year that rules of engagement allowed U.S. forces on the ground to travel up to a kilometer, a little more than half a mile, into Pakistani territory if they had “eyes on” insurgents, not just terrorist leaders.

Horrigan said that pursuit would require the approval of Pakistani authorities or Horrigan’s brigade commander. It wasn’t clear whether the brigade commander was required to consult with Pakistani officials before such an incursion. Through a spokesman at Fort Drum, where he is currently stationed, Horrigan declined to comment this week.

Horrigan also said in the earlier interview that U.S. aircraft could penetrate up to 10 kilometers into Pakistan, but must seek permission first. And he said his soldiers had fired from Afghanistan into Pakistan “two or three times.” With fire coming from Pakistan, “usually I can fire back,” he said, citing “an inherent right to self-defense.”

Lt. Col. David Accetta, spokesman for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, said last week he could not talk about rules of engagement along the Pakistan border. He did say, after an AP reporter informed him of Horrigan’s comments, that the rules haven’t changed since January, when Horrigan spoke.

A high-ranking Ranger officer who has served in Afghanistan and is familiar with the current rules of engagement said that if he found himself “in contact” with the enemy at the border, he would feel authorized to chase them into Pakistan. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the high sensitivity of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship.

Signs of U.S. operations
Occasionally, there have been signs of American operations in the Pakistani frontier.

In January 2006, tribal elders told the AP that U.S. helicopters had launched an attack on remote Saidgi village, about three miles from the Afghan border in Pakistan’s lawless North Waziristan tribal region.

A tribal leader, Momin Khan, said the Americans took away five tribesmen. The Muslim cleric whose home was attacked was not there, but an explosion had killed eight people and wounded nine.

The U.S. military denied involvement, and Pakistan’s chief Army spokesman said he couldn’t confirm the raid.

A week later, the CIA purportedly sent a Predator drone from Afghanistan into Pakistan, unsuccessfully firing missiles at al-Zawahri. The attack missed bin Laden’s deputy but reportedly killed four other al-Qaida leaders — although that information was never verified — and 13 villagers. Pakistan officially condemned the attack and said it had no advance notice.

Bush says little on matter
In recent weeks, top Bush administration officials have staked out sometimes varying positions on the matter of penetrating Pakistani’s borders.

On Aug. 5, Defense Secretary Robert Gates was cautious in describing how U.S. officials would handle an incursion. “I think we would not act without telling (Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf) what we were planning to do,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

That was far more tentative than what White House homeland security adviser Frances Townsend said last month when asked on Fox News why the U.S. wasn’t sending special operations forces and drones into Pakistan.

“Well, just because we don’t speak about things publicly doesn’t mean we’re not doing many of the things you’re talking about,” Townsend said. She didn’t elaborate.

On Aug. 5 at Camp David with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Bush wouldn’t say whether he would consult with Pakistan before ordering U.S. forces to act inside that country. “With real actionable intelligence, we will get the job done,” Bush said, without elaborating.

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