US RELEASES VIDEO OF DISPUTED PAKISTAN ENGAGEMENT

Yesterday we reported the following:

Contradicting accounts concerning the latest airstrike by the US military on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan:

The US military may have conducted its fifth known strike inside Pakistani territory against the Taliban and al Qaeda bases this year, an unnamed Pakistani official told Reuters.

The airstrike is thought to have been carried out inside the Mohmand tribal agency. "There was an attack by a spy plane close to the Afghan border but we don't have information about casualties or damage," the unnamed Pakistani government official said.

There are rumors that a very big fish was killed:

I've gotten a few memos from some insiders that this could be a big fish. How big?

Check out the comments section for some of the public speculation as to why this may be Zawahiri. The gist of which is a) contrary to Pakistani sources, this area is a hotbed of AQ activity b) Zawahiri is said to have married a wife from the Mohmand tribe in order to get their protection c) hence the rumors that Zawahiri is in the area and the speculation that the target was Zawahiri.

There is also this contradicting report:

Pakistan lodged a strong protest with the United States over an "unprovoked and cowardly" air strike by U.S. forces in Afghanistan that killed 11 Pakistani soldiers at a border post.

They died in the Mohmand region, opposite Afghanistan's Kunar province, late on Tuesday as U.S. coalition forces in Afghanistan battled militants attacking from Pakistan, a Pakistani security official said.

The U.S. military said in a statement issued on Wednesday that it had coordinated the artillery and air strike with Pakistan and it was investigating the incident.

Of course, with the stance the Pakistani government has been taking of late concerning the Taliban, it would not surprise me if the "Pakistani troops" and the terrorists were one and the same.

Today, the United States has released the following video footage that it claims supports their accounts of what transpired:



The Washington Post reported as follows:

To support its version, the coalition on Thursday took the unusual step of releasing excerpts of a video shot by a surveillance drone circling above the mountainous battle zone.

The grainy, monochrome images show about a half-dozen men firing small arms and rocket-propelled grenades from a ridge at coalition troops off-camera in the valley below.

According to the voiceover in the video, the ridge is in Afghanistan's Kunar province, about 200 yards from the Pakistan border and close to the Gorparai checkpoint.

...The video shows the "anti-Afghan militants" moving to a position identified as inside Pakistan and the impact of a bomb which the voiceover says killed two of them.

The survivors then fled into a ravine, where three more bombs were dropped, nearly three hours after the clash began. The voiceover said all the militants were killed.

One of the bombs fell off screen, and U.S. officials said about a dozen bombs were dropped in all.

On Wednesday, U.S. diplomats offered apologies for the reported casualties. But the Pentagon insisted that the drone footage of the bombings showed they hit their intended targets.

And not at all unrelated was this report released Monday stating that Pakistani intelligence agents and paramilitary forces have helped train Taliban insurgents and have given them information about American troop movements.

The study by the RAND Corp. also warned that the U.S. will face "crippling, long-term consequences" in Afghanistan if Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan are not eliminated.

It echoes recent statements by American generals, who have increased their warnings that militant safe havens in Pakistan are threatening efforts in Afghanistan. The study was funded by the U.S. Defense Department.

"Every successful insurgency in Afghanistan since 1979 enjoyed safe haven in neighboring countries, and the current insurgency is no different," said the report's author, Seth Jones. "Right now, the Taliban and other groups are getting help from individuals within Pakistan's government, and until that ends, the region's long-term security is in jeopardy."

The study, "Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan," found some active and former officials in Pakistan's intelligence service and the Frontier Corps — a Pakistani paramilitary force deployed along the Afghan border — provided direct assistance to Taliban militants and helped secure medical care for wounded fighters.

As the Penatagon claims, The United States hit its "intended target".

h/t Gateway Pundit