Pakistani government has ordered the US to vacate an airbase within 15 days.

Nov. 26 tragic friendly fire incident along the Afghan-Pakistan border, and Nov. 27 response, are eerily familiar to any observer of Afghan-Pakistan-United States ties over the past decade.

NATO aircraft "highly likely" – in the words of an alliance spokesperson – killed 24 Pakistani troops and wounded 13 others at two posts located about 1,000 feet apart on a mountain in the Mohmand region of Pakistan's semi-autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Pakistani militants based in this mountainous northwest frontier use the FATA as a safe haven for conducting cross-border guerrilla and terrorist attacks in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan itself.

In response to the pre-dawn attack, which found most of the garrison still asleep, Pakistani authorities have again blocked vital supply routes for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. The government also said it would review all diplomatic, military and intelligence cooperation with ISAF forces.

Pakistani authorities also repeated their demand that the Pentagon leave the Shamsi Air Base in Balochistan Province used to service U.S. drones that launch missiles at al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in Pakistan's tribal region. This time they included a 15-day deadline for the withdrawal.

A spokesman for NATO forces, Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson, said Afghan and ISAF troops were operating in the border area of eastern Afghanistan when "a tactical situation" prompted them to call in airstrikes in support that "highly likely" caused Pakistani casualties.