Afghan President Humid Karzai has claimed Afghanistan has the "right" to strike at militants over the border in Pakistan. Responding on 15 June to an increase in attacks launched from inside Pakistan, Karzai described the border as "a two-way road", saying that as long as militants continued to launch cross-border missions "to come and kill Afghans and kill coalition troops, it exactly gives us the right to do the same". He also singled out Tehrik-e-Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, threatening to "go after him and hit him in his house". The remarks further strained relations with Pakistan, which had already been tested on 10 June when US helicopters mistakenly destroyed a Pakistani border post, killing 11 soldiers. NATO stressed that it had no involvement in the operation. A spokesman for the Pakistan High Commission in London referred Jane's to comments made by Foreign Minister Makh-doom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who accused Karzai of making "regrettable" and "irresponsible threatening statements".
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