U.S. officials don't like calling what's going on in Pakistan a war. But the American-led conflict, whatever name you give it, has never been this violent. The drone component of the campaign hit a new high over the weekend – 20 attacks in September alone, killing as many as 101 people. Today, NATO confirmed that a pair of its helicopters, based in Afghanistan, chased militant suspects across the border. 53 more are now reported dead.

In the Beltway, it's considered bad form to refer to the Pakistan "war." The term is too loaded with geopolitical baggage, and raises too many questions about who should be overseeing the conflict at home. But when NATO helicopters kill more than four dozen in Pakistan in a single day; when the CIA-led drone campaign hits 20 targets in 23 days; when thousands of U.S.-trained Afghans cross the border to fight insurgents on Pakistani soil; when American troops ferry aid to Pakistan's flood victims; when the U.S. Air Force flies surveillance sorties over Pakistan; when American security contractors operate on Pakistani turf; and when U.S. Special Operations forces school Islamabad's army in counterinsurgency (and sometimes lose troops to firefights in the process), what else should we name this multi-pronged military campaign? What other term would possibly apply?

NATO's International Security Assistance Force has long had authorization to follow militants in "hot pursuit" from Afghanistan into Pakistan. That was the situation Saturday, when Pakistani-based insurgents attacked Combat Outpost Nariza, a NATO base eight miles inside Afghanistan. When the attackers fled, the helicopters followed – and struck. The aircraft killed 49, ISAF estimated after examining footage taken by the gun cameras mounted on the helicopters.

"The ISAF helicopters did cross into Pakistan territory to engage the insurgents," U.S. Capt. Ryan Donald tells The Canadian Press. "ISAF maintains the right to self-defense, and that's why they crossed the Pakistan border."

Later, there was a second skirmish. The "helicopters returned to the border area and were attacked by insurgents based in Pakistan," according to Donald. Four more militants were killed.

Publicly, officials in Islamabad are criticizing the strikes. “No external force is allowed to conduct operations inside Pakistan,” Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani huffed. It's reminiscent of the protests guys like him used to make, every time an American drone attacks another militant on their soil. These days, the unmanned strikes have become so routine, they hardly merit a peep. On Sunday, seven suspected militants were killed in a pair of strikes on the Al-Qaeda haven of Datta Khel, not too far from where the helicopters hit. Just another weekend in the Pakistan war.

Photo: DoD

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