US unapologetic over Pakistan strikes

White House spokesman Jay Carney gestures during a daily briefing at the White House in Washington on Thursday, November 10, 2011.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/213319.html

The United States has refused to apologize to Pakistan for the recent airstrikes by the US-led forces that killed two dozen Pakistani soldiers.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Thursday in Washington that the US had already offered condolences, but insisted Washington would withhold an apology, the White House reported on its website.

Carney added that Washington had launched an investigation through the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) to find out exactly what transpired, but “there was obviously no apology and there was an expression of condolences.”

On November 26, US-led NATO helicopters and fighter jets carried out airstrikes on two military checkpoints in the northwest of Pakistan, killing 24 Pakistani soldiers and wounding dozens of others.

The attack has fueled the anti-American sentiment among the Pakistani people and prompted a harshly-toned condemnation from the country's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

According to reports, the US State Department lobbied President Barack Obama to address the Pakistani nation on the matter through a formal statement of regret, but the idea was strongly opposed by the Pentagon.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has warned that Islamabad would no longer tolerate the spilling of the blood of its citizens at the hands of the US-led forces.

"Enough is enough. The government will not tolerate any incident of spilling even a single drop of any civilian or soldier's blood," she stated.

Pakistan would discontinue its support for the US-led war in Afghanistan if its sovereignty was violated again, Khar added.

On Wednesday, a senior Pakistani Army official called the attack a deliberate act of blatant aggression against the country.

Thousands of people have marched in Pakistani cities, including Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Charsada, Nowshera, and Rawalpindi to condemn the airstrikes.