US and Pakistan have 'shared goals' – White House Reuters

Nato operations in Afghanistan have been thrown into disarray following Saturday's deaths. The US and allied commanders say they are investigating how the tragedy occurred. Both sides are making claims and counter-claims.

Claim 1: US and Afghan commandos say they came under fire from inside Pakistan. The resulting air strikes killed 24 soldiers, and injured 13. Nato says they were a regrettable mistake.

Counter-claim: Pakistan says the attack was unprovoked. The air and helicopter strikes were a catastrophic blunder, both military and diplomatic.

Claim 2: Nato says the incident happened when a mainly Afghan force was conducting an operation in the southern Kunar province. Someone fired on them, it says.

Counter-claim: The Pakistani military says this is rubbish. The assault was premeditated, "irresponsible" and deliberate against two mountain outposts known to Nato and US forces. The soldiers were 300 metres inside Pakistan, in the Mohmand tribal areas, recently cleared of militants.

Claim 3: Nato regrets the deaths and says they were "tragic and unintended".

Counter-claim: Pakistan says the attacks went on for almost two hours and continued even after Pakistani commanders asked coalition forces to stop. A spokesman said that if the Afghan-US patrol came under attack, where are its casualties?

Claim 4: Underlying US policy is the assumption that Pakistani forces are complicit in allowing Taliban militants to use Pakistan's tribal areas as a base.

Counter-claim: Pakistan's soldiers are doing an impossible job. They patrol a huge, porous, mountainous border, and frequently come under attack from Taliban sympathisers and from trigger-happy Nato-Afghan forces

Claim 5: US officials believe elements inside Pakistan's army and intelligence services give clandestine support to a resurgent Taliban. This support – in the form of weapons, know-how, safe havens – facilitates lethal attacks inside Afghanistan on US troops, and perpetuates a war that has already dragged on for over a decade.

Counter-claim: Pakistan is fighting its own desperate internal battle against Islamist extremism. The US, meanwhile, isn't helping. It flagrantly violates Pakistan's sovereignty. The latest deadly air-strikes are simply the most recent example; the raid which killed Osama bin Laden in May the most egregious.