The Salala incident (Urdu: واقعہ سلالہ), was a border skirmish that occurred when United States-led NATO forces engaged Pakistani security forces at two Pakistani military checkpoints along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border on 26 November 2011, with both sides later claiming that the other had fired first.
Two NATO Apache helicopters, an AC-130 gunship and two F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets entered as little as 200 metres (660 ft) to up to 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) into the Pakistani border ridge of Salala (located in the Baizai subdivision of the Mohmand Agency in the then Federally Administered Tribal Areas) at 2 a.m. local time. They came from across the border in Afghanistan and opened or returned fire at two Pakistani border patrol checkpoints, killing 28 Pakistani soldiers and wounding 12 others. This attack resulted in deterioration of relations between Pakistan and the United States. The Pakistani public reacted with protests across the country and the government under Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani took measures adversely affecting the American exit strategy from Afghanistan, including the evacuation of Shamsi Airfield and closure of the NATO supply line in Pakistan. Pakistan also rejected a U.S. offer of compensation for the killing of its soldiers in the NATO attack.
On 3 July 2012, then-United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton officially apologized for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military in the 2011 attack. Subsequently, Pakistan restored the NATO supply routes.
Background and timeline
The attack
On 26 November 2011, US-led NATO forces opened fire on two Pakistani border checkpoints near the Afghanistan–Pakistan border. The attack occurred at approximately 01:30 in Afghanistan and 21:00 GMT. According to the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), Major General Ashfaq Nadeem, the attack was a coordinated NATO strike and used two AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters, an AC-130H Spectre gunship and two F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets. A MC-12W Liberty turbo-propeller aircraft was used in an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance role. The checkpoints were located 200 metres (660 ft) to 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) inside Pakistan from the border with Afghanistan in the Salala area of the Baizai subdivision of the Mohmand Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Pakistan, and separated by a distance of one kilometre on the Salala mountain top.
The attacks caused the deaths of up to twenty-four Pakistani soldiers, including two officers, Major Mujahid Mirani and Captain Usman Ali. Thirteen other soldiers were injured.
Both sides reported they were attacked first. The poorly defined border, as well as a history of Taliban fighters moving around the Afghan border regions, were cited as possible contributing factors to the incident.
US–Afghan claims
According to Afghan and US officials, the incident started after US–Afghan coalition forces, which were conducting an operation against the Afghan Taliban in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar Province, were fired upon from border positions within Pakistan. "There was firing coming from the position against Afghan army soldiers who requested support", said one Afghan official in Kabul.
The Afghan official further stated they were being fired upon directly from a Pakistani military outpost itself. A Western official backed up that view by stating, "They were fired on from a Pakistani army base." And, "It was a defensive action." According to Afghan and US accounts helicopters were then called in for support against the incoming fire.
A Pakistani defence official reportedly stated that soldiers in the Pakistani border post were there for the express purpose of stopping infiltration and fired a few flares, a couple of mortar rounds and one or two bursts of machine-gun fire in that direction.
An unnamed "Western official" in Kabul supported the view that the coalition forces had acted in self-defense against fire coming from a Pakistani base. A US official pointed to an incident in September 2010, when a US helicopter fired on a Pakistan outpost, killing three soldiers: "It was a situation where insurgent forces butted right up against a Pakistani border post and used that as a firing position. When we fired back, we hit Pakistani security forces." Military officials in Kabul claimed insurgents in Pakistan used empty Pakistan border bases to stage attacks, which they say may have been the working assumption of the coalition forces who called in the airstrike when they drew fire.
One US official said NATO forces had informed the Pakistani army's 11th Corps command near the western border that operations against Taliban insurgents would take place on that day. Pakistani General Abbas admitted in a press conference that coalition forces had "informed our military earlier, much earlier, that they will be conducting an operation there."
According to the US military, information about the proposed strike was passed on at one of the centres on the border where both sides station officers and exchange information in an effort to avoid firing on each other, after which Pakistani officers cleared the strike, saying that there were no Pakistani forces in the area.
Pakistani claims
The incident sparked outrage and controversy in Pakistan, which termed the attack an "unprovoked and indiscriminate firing," an "irresponsible act," and a "stark violation" of its sovereignty. Leaders of the Pakistani military establishment viewed NATO's attacks on the army checkpoints as intentional, pre-planned and premeditated. Slamming NATO's version of events as "lame excuses", Pakistan rejected claims of any firing having emanated from its side as a prelude to the encounter, saying that the soldiers who were manning the post were asleep and resting when NATO launched the assault at night. The director general of the ISPR, Major General Athar Abbas challenged NATO to "present proof if they claim that firing was started from Pakistani side. No fire was opened from our side." He asserted that "At this point, NATO and Afghanistan are trying to wriggle out of the situation by offering excuses. Where are their casualties?" Meanwhile, the claim that the airstrike was cleared by Pakistani authorities was categorically denied by Pakistan which claimed that the attack continued for two hours, even after Pakistani officials alerted coalition forces to stop.
Preliminary reports from the Pakistan Army told of about 40 soldiers being present at the two check posts, most of whom were sleeping or resting when the raid took place.
The helicopters first attacked the border post, named "Volcano", atop the mountain peak. This initial attack cut all the communications to and from the post, and a Pakistan Air Force air support could not be called in time to counter the attack. Instead, Pakistani troops stationed at the nearby post named "Boulder" engaged the NATO helicopters with anti-aircraft guns. The helicopters soon withdrew.
Pakistani authorities tried to contact their NATO counterparts in an effort to inform them of the situation but the Pakistani request reportedly failed to reach the attacking force. The helicopters returned a second time engaging Boulder border post again. A short while later communication with the NATO commanders was established and the attack was called off. All casualties were from the initial attack on the Volcano border post. Later, Major General Abbas expressed that it was beyond comprehension why the NATO forces returned to attack the second time.
According to local officials, there was no militant activity along the Afghan border region when NATO conducted the attack. Abbas, spokesperson ISPR, said that the coordinates of the two border posts had been given to ISAF. He added that the attack lasted for almost two hours and claimed that the personnel on the posts alerted the GHQ which in turn immediately informed the ISAF regional base in Afghanistan to stop the attack at roughly 12:30 AM but they did not. GHQ in return gave permission to the personnel on the outposts to retaliate. NATO communicated at roughly 1:15 AM that they had realised that they were attacking the Pakistani Army and that their forces had been ordered to stop. Yet NATO's aerial bombardment continued with another salvo aimed at the Pakistani rescue force that rushed to the aid of the two posts. Pakistan termed the event an "unprovoked and indiscriminate firing", an "irresponsible act", and a "stark violation" of its sovereignty. The attack was the deadliest NATO strike on Pakistani soil since the start of the war in Afghanistan.
In a media conference with the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Major General Ashfaq, Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Waheed Arshad, claimed that this was not an "unintended" incident. Describing the series of events he commented that NATO was informed at the time of the attack but their helicopters remained hostile to the Pakistani forces stationed in the area. The Pakistani military also said that the NATO forces returned a second time to attack the post again. When he was asked whether Pakistan was satisfied with the investigating team headed under US Air force Brigadier General Stephon, he responded sharply by commenting that all of the incidents in the past, in relation to the violation of Pakistan's sovereignty, did not come close to a sought after conclusion. Pakistan was invited to jointly investigate the incident but refused to participate.
On 9 December, Major General Ashfaq claimed that NATO had been monitoring radio transmissions that night and knew they had hit Volcano post. The Pakistani military called the strike "unprovoked and indiscriminate." The government of Pakistan began to sever ties with the U.S. by immediately discontinuing the supply routes of NATO troops located in Afghanistan. Notably, the strike on Saturday came one day after Gen. John Allen, the commander of the US-led coalition in Afghanistan, visited Pakistani army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. In that meeting, both the commanders discussed border co-ordination and other measures "aimed at enhancing border control on both sides."
Repercussions of the incident
Closure of NATO supply lines
Pakistan immediately closed all NATO supplies to Afghanistan in the aftermath of the attack, leaving the blockaded supply trucks vulnerable to attacks. NATO trucks had been using the supply routes, in Khyber Agency (through the Khyber Pass at Torkham) and Balochistan (near Chaman), to supply US and international forces fighting in Afghanistan.
US policy makers tried to find alternative routes through Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan (termed as the "Northern Distribution Network") but these were longer and less effective than the routes through Pakistan. There were huge costs associated with the Central Asian supply lines, and NATO's supply line through Russia was already under the looming danger of closure due to friction over missile defence plans. Being a landlocked country, Afghanistan is highly dependent on Pakistan for its imports. According to figures released by The Pentagon in January 2012, the United States was paying six times more to send supplies to troops in Afghanistan via alternative supply routes following the closure of Pakistani routes. The figures placed the new US costs at $104 million per month, roughly $87 million costlier per month than when the cargo was transported via Pakistan. The high costs were associated with the routes being lengthier.
Continued strife
In late March 2012, a US military official stated that the United States would have to use routes through the Northern Distribution Network (NDN) for supplies to Afghanistan if Pakistan refused to reopen its supply lines. However, he conceded the expensiveness of these routes and noted that negotiations with Pakistan regarding the possibility of opening of the supply routes were ongoing. After reviewing United States-Pakistan relations and outlining what was needed to repair bilateral relations, the Pakistani parliament turned the decision of reopening the NATO supply lines over to the government in April 2012. Due to an upcoming general election in Pakistan, with widespread anti-American sentiments in the country, the Pakistani government was reluctant to reopen the lines, and postponed its decision until the United States responded positively to Pakistani demands outlined in the parliamentary recommendations such as a US apology for the November 2011 incident, the bringing of those involved in the strike to justice, and a stop to US drone airstrikes. Talks between Pakistan and the United States fell through in April 2012 after Pakistan was unable to acquire an unconditional apology from the United States for the November 2011 incident. The White House refused to apologise after Taliban attacks in Kabul and other cities in Afghanistan on 15 April 2012, which according to US military and intelligence officials came from the Haqqani network, an Afghan group working from a base in North Waziristan along the Afghanistan border in Pakistan's tribal belt. Pakistani officials said they could not open the NATO supply routes in Afghanistan without a US apology.