This month, U.S. commandos mounted a helicopter-borne ground assault on a Pakistani border village. Pakistan condemned it saying such attacks violate its sovereignty and the army has vowed to defend Pakistani territory.But  Pakistan does not want to engage in a conflict with the U.S. But at the same time it's saying 'please respect our sovereignty' and it's giving some sort of clear signal, while trying to be as conciliatory as possible".

With long bi-lateral ties behind them, Pakistan needs the USA for economic reasons and the U.S. needs Pakistan for conducting its war against "terrorism" in Afghanistan. This arrangement would continue until most of the Afghans are kiled. Both recognize the need for cooperation, but both are also trying to maximize their gain by building pressure on the other to an early withdrawal of hostilities. Alarming as the sight of the nuclear-armed allies shooting at each other might be, US-Pakistan hostilities, therefore, are unlikely to intensify although more such incidents were possible, with both sides driven by different compulsions.

The USA has stepped up strikes on "militants" on the Pakistani side of the border by missile-firing drones. USA bombed Pakistan , a close ally, killing a few Muslims on the spot. The USA and its allies are waging a terror war in Afghanistan with an intensifying "Taliban insurgency" to thwart the imperialist move to control the country, which has raised doubts about the success of the West's seven-year involvement. U.S. officials say Taliban and al Qaeda-linked fighters use the ethnic Pashtun tribal regions along Pakistan 's side of the border as an operating base to launch attacks inside Afghanistan , in Pakistan and to plot violence in the West. Targeting those safe havens has become a priority as frustration grows that Pakistan has not been doing "enough" to clamp down on fighters in the remote region. Since Sept 11 the US-ed terror forces have killed thousands of Afghans.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said his country's forces had only fired flares at the U.S. helicopters to tell them they had crossed the border. Like his predecessor Musharraf did, Zardari and his government also have pledged its commitment to the U.S.-led campaign against militancy and the army has killed up to 1,000 "militants" in recent offensives in the northwest. But the alliance with the United States and the attacks on militants are unpopular with many Pakistanis, and cross-border strikes by U.S. forces erode the public support the government is trying to nurture. It's very bad as far as winning the people over, which is essential for the war on terror.

It appears it is only a "limited" war in Pakistan. Neither the United States nor its ally Pakistan will let a clash between their forces on the Afghan border escalate since both countries depend on each other for different reasons. US and Pakistani forces exchanged fire on the Afghan border on 25 Sept  after Pakistani forces shot at two U.S. helicopters from a Pakistani border post, the latest in a string of incidents that has ratcheted up diplomatic tension between the allies. The Pakistani military said its soldiers fired warning shots after the helicopters intruded over Pakistani territory, but a Pentagon spokesman insisted the helicopters had not entered Pakistan. No one was hurt. The word does not know the whole truth.

The U.S. attacks into Pakistan also put pressure on the government to stand up to what many see as U.S. aggression. If Pakistan let U.S. activity go unchecked they lose domestic credibility. So they have to do this kind of thing but not with the intention of destroying U.S. helicopters. Even during the occupation of Afghanistan by Soviet forces in the 1980s, Pakistan did not try to shoot down intruding Soviet aircraft but only to scare them away. A commentator said: "I don't think things will get worse but if they do, even then Pakistan will avoid shooting down American helicopters."

The USA is the biggest donor of aid to Pakistan, desperately in need of foreign inflows as it struggles with a sharply deteriorating economy. Pakistani analysts also see the stepped-up U.S. strikes as an attempt by the U.S. administration to score points in the run-up to a November presidential election. As such, the U.S. attacks into Pakistan, particularly the drone missile strikes, are likely to continue and more minor clashes were possible. There is a perception that the possibility of such an incident in future cannot be ruled out but things will not spin out of control.

One Word

Interestingly, Islamabad's neighbor India has not yet made any "panicky" statement about the "explosive situation" prevailing in Pakistan with US fires. It is strange so because even when there is some little domestic disturbances in Pakistan, India would like to make a big hue and cry over the situation there speculating about their impact on "innocent" India. Media reports suggests that Pakistan got what it deserved from USA 

One does not, however, fail to infer that the US-Pakistan war is not quite serious enough and it has some other goals than the stated ones.