Pakistan was invited to cooperate in the probe into Saturday`s incident, which has enraged Islamabad and plunged US-Pakistani relations into crisis, but officials have declined to do so.
"They have elected to date not to participate, but we would welcome their participation," said Pentagon press secretary George Little.
US officials expected a refusal given the fury in Pakistan following the incident, which led Islamabad to block NATO supply convoys on its border and boycott an international conference on Afghanistan in Bonn set for Monday.
The United States has voiced regret over the strikes but has stopped short of issuing an apology while the American military conducts the investigation.
"It`s safe to say that the incident has had a chilling effect on our relationship with the Pakistani military, no question about that," spokesman Captain John Kirby told reporters.
"Both sides deem it to be as serious as it was."
US commanders and intelligence chiefs have long sought to cultivate relations with Pakistan`s army, the country`s most powerful institution, but the air strikes have caused outrage among the army`s junior officers and fed popular resentment of Washington.
The Pakistani army called the strikes a "deliberate act of aggression" but US officials have declined to discuss publicly what transpired at two Pakistani border posts.(*)
AFP
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
