US sorry for Pakistan military mistreatment

State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said that the mistreatment meted out to the Pakistani military officials heading to attend CentCom meeting was caused by a misunderstanding. It was regrettable. We think that there was a misunderstanding, miscommunication, you know, between the Pakistani contingent and the -- and the air crew. It did result in the Pakistani contingent leaving the airplane, he said. Flight attendants are taught safety and security measures and given training to determine threats. But it is generally the discretion of a flight's captain to determine whether a passenger has demonstrated behavior that warrants removal. McCarthy said that United's customer service team spoke to the group and determined that we could book them on a flight the next morning but she did not indicate whether any travel plans or itineraries were arranged. We recognize this was an inconvenience to our customers and we apologize, she said.Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan called the episode an unfortunate incident. Defense officials could offer few details about it, however. Spokesmen from both the Pentagon and Central Command said despite media reports to the contrary, they were unaware of any apologies made by US defense officials.The Defense Department will be reaching out to Pakistan to reschedule the talks, perhaps in Pakistan. The talks were designed to craft the military-to-military engagement plan for 2011, said Centcom spokesman Maj. David Nevers. The incident is unlikely to contribute to a warming of strained US and Pakistan relationship over the fight against terrorism.