Air strike damages trust in Pakistan-U.S. alliance

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The United States and Pakistan will have to work harder to stop their alliance from souring after an air attack by U.S.-led forces killed 11 Pakistani soldiers at a border post, analysts said on Thursday.

There have been sporadic breakdowns in co-ordination between forces on both sides of the Afghan border in the past, but Tuesday's attack by U.S.-led coalition forces had by far the deadliest consequences and could affect future cooperation.

"They may try to do some damage control, but I think the troops on both sides may not trust each other and cooperate," Rahimullah Yousafzai, a newspaper editor and expert on Afghan and tribal affairs said.

Eleven Pakistani Frontier Corps (FC) soldiers, including a major, were killed in the air strike in the Mohmand tribal region, which abuts Afghanistan's Kunar province.

The attack came amidst growing frustration among Pakistan's western allies over efforts by the new government to negotiate pacts to end militant violence on its side of the border.

NATO says such deals lead to more violence in Afghanistan as they provide opportunity to militants to orchestrate and launch cross-border attacks from their sanctuaries on Pakistani soil.

From a Pakistani perspective, peace talks at least provided a respite from a wave of suicide attacks which began in mid-2007.

Well over 1,000 people have been killed in militant-related violence in Pakistan since then.