There was blood

Pakistani soldiers got blown to bits when they got caught in the crossfire between U.S. / NATO forces and Taliban fighters. The latest spat took place in the Afghan province of Kunar, at the Pakistan-Afghan border at the Chopara check post in the Mohmand Agency. The Taliban attacked, the U.S. dropped about a dozen 500 pound bombs, and somehow 11 Pakistanis of the Mohmand Rifles, a paramilitary detachment of the Frontier Corps got killed. The Pentagon defended the strike as "legitimate" while the Pakistani military's statement declaring the airstrikes as "unprovoked and cowardly" got wide repetition. Of course this doesn't help already strained relations between the "allies." Pakistan's new government is whipsawed between being seen as at least tacitly supporting the Taliban on the one hand, and needing America's largess to prop up its economy on the other. With the U.S. set to pump another $10 billion into the failing Afghan government, this latest dustup may result in our already dysfunctional relationship with Pakistan being blown to bits.