145;Pak Frontier Corps shot at US forces146;

Late in the afternoon of June 10, during a firefight with Taliban militants along the Afghan-Pakistani border...

Late in the afternoon of June 10, during a firefight with Taliban militants along the Afghan-Pakistani border, American soldiers called in airstrikes to beat back the attack. The firefight was taking place right on the border itself, known in military jargon as the 8220;zero line8221;. Afghanistan was on one side, and the remote Pakistani region known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, or FATA, was on the other. The stretch of border was guarded by three Pakistani military posts.

The American bombers did the job, and then some. By the time the fighting ended, the Taliban militants had slipped away, the American unit was safe and 11 Pakistani border guards lay dead. The airstrikes on the Pakistani positions sparked a diplomatic row between the two allies: Pakistan called the incident 8220;unprovoked and cowardly8221;; American officials regretted what they called a tragic mistake. But even after a joint inquiry by the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan, it remained unclear why American soldiers had reached the point of calling in airstrikes on soldiers from Pakistan, a critical ally in the war in Afghanistan.

The mystery, at least part of it, was solved in July by four residents of Suran Dara, a Pakistani village a few hundred yards from the site of the fight. According to two of these villagers, whom I interviewed together with a local reporter, the Americans started calling in airstrikes on the Pakistanis after the latter started shooting at the Americans.

8220;When the Americans started bombing the Taliban, the Frontier Corps started shooting at the Americans,8221; we were told by one of Suran Dara8217;s villagers, who, like the others, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being persecuted or killed by the Pakistani government or the Taliban. 8220;They were trying to help the Taliban. And then the American planes bombed the Pakistani post.8221;

For years, the villagers said, Suran Dara served as a safe haven for jihadist fighters 8212; whether from Afghanistan or Pakistan or other countries 8212; giving them aid and shelter and a place to stash their weapons. With the firefight under way, one of Suran Dara8217;s villagers dashed across the border into Afghanistan carrying a field radio with a long antenna the villager called it 8220;a Motorola8221; to deliver to the Taliban fighters. He never made it. The man with the Motorola was hit by an American bomb. After the fight, wounded Taliban members were carried into Suran Dara for treatment. 8220;Everyone supports the Taliban on both sides of the border,8221; one of the villagers we spoke with said.

Later, an American analyst briefed by officials in Washington confirmed the villagers8217; account. 8220;There have been dozens of incidents where there have been exchanges of fire,8221; he said.

That American and Pakistani soldiers are fighting one another along what was meant to be a border between allies highlights the extraordinarily chaotic situation unfolding inside the Pakistani tribal areas, where hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Taliban, along with Al Qaeda, enjoy freedom from American attacks.

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But the incident also raises one of the more fundamental questions of the long war against Islamic militancy, and one that looms larger as the American position inside Afghanistan deteriorates: Whose side is Pakistan really on?

Pakistan8217;s wild, largely ungoverned tribal areas have become an untouchable base for Islamic militants to attack Americans and Afghans across the border. Inside the tribal areas, Taliban warlords have taken near-total control, pushing aside the Pakistani government and imposing their draconian form of Islam. And for more than a year now, they have been sending suicide bombers against government and military targets in Pakistan, killing hundreds of people. American and Pakistani investigators say they believe it was Baitullah Mehsud, the strongest of FATA8217;s Taliban leaders, who dispatched assassins last December to kill Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister. With much of the North-West Frontier Province, which borders the tribal areas, also now under their control, the Taliban are increasingly in a position to threaten the integrity of the Pakistani state.

Then there is Al Qaeda. According to American officials and counter-terrorism experts, the organisation has rebuilt itself and is using its sanctuaries inside the tribal areas to plan attacks against the US and Europe. Since 2004, six major terrorist plots against Europe or the US 8212; including the successful suicide attacks in London that killed 52 people in July 2005 8212; have been traced back to Pakistan8217;s tribal areas, according to Bruce Hoffman, a professor of security studies at Georgetown University. Hoffman says he fears that Al Qaeda could be preparing a major attack before the American presidential election. 8220;I8217;m convinced they are planning something,8221; he told me.

At the centre of all this stands the question of whether Pakistan really wants to control the Talibs and their Qaeda allies ensconced in the tribal areas 8212; and whether it really can. The idea that Pakistan8217;s military and intelligence agencies could simultaneously be aiding the Taliban and like-minded militants while taking money from the US is not as far-fetched as it may seem.

Excerpted from The New York Times8217; magazine section