General explains Pakistan border conflict errors

U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Stephen Clark, who led the investigation into the circumstances of a NATO strike on Pakistani military positions, told reporters that the U.S. forces acted in self-defense, without knowing that Pakistan had military outposts in the area.

“We are tracking no Pak[istani] mil[itary] in the area,” Clark said the troops on the ground were told by their regional command center, according to the American Forces Press Service. Clark added that U.S. forces came under “direct and heavy machine gun fire.” U.S. forces, told that Pakistani military was not in the area, dropped flares to make clear that they were coalition forces, and then called for an air strike on the aggressors.