Pakistani Delegation Bolts Washington to Protest Airport Security Stop

A delegation of Pakistani military officials left Washington, D.C., Tuesday night after refusing to attend a U.S.-Pakistani defense conference in protest of the group's alleged mistreatment by security officials after being removed from a United Airlines flight on Sunday evening.

The delegation, which had been on its way to Tampa to attend a U.S.-Pakistan Military Consultative Committee meeting at Central Command headquarters, stayed in Washington for two days before leaving town.

"A group of nine passengers was removed from the flight after one of them made a comment to a member of the flight crew during the boarding process," United Airlines spokeswoman Megan McCarthy told FoxNews.com on Wednesday.

McCarthy could not confirm whether law enforcement ever came and spoke to the group after they were removed from the flight originating at Dulles Airport outside Washington.

But Transportation Security Administration and Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority officials -- the law enforcement organizations that work at Dulles Airport -- said they were not involved in interrogating the men.

A Dulles Airport security spokeswoman said a group of Dulles security officials were in "the vicinity and they were called over" during the incident, but they did not get involved in detaining the group. TSA said their officers were not involved and United called the shots.

An official with the Pakistani Embassy in Washington told FoxNews.com that TSA officials boarded the plane and started interrogating the delegates after they were called in by United crew.

According to the official, the crew was alarmed by one of the delegation's comment that he hoped "this is going to be our last flight."

They showed their passports and invitation letter sent by CentCom but were not allowed to contact anybody at the embassy or at Central Command, the Pakistani official said.

"That would've been very simple," the official said.

The men were taken off the plane, detained and questioned by TSA for two and a half hours, the Pakistani official said he was told. Afterward, in protest, the delegation called off the meeting.

"That (treatment) was not appropriate with a delegation of senior members," the official said. "We hope that Pakistani and U.S. relations are not going to be harmed by this incident."

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Wednesday that "it's hard to interpret exactly what happened on board the airplane."

"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 U.S. 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 U.S. and Pakistan relationship over the fight against terrorism.

On Wednesday, the Department of Justice filed terrorism-related charges against the leader of Pakistan's Taliban, Hakimullah Mehsud, who is facing conspiracy for several attacks on American forces in Afghanistan, including last year's suicide bombing that killed seven CIA employees.

An award of up to $5 million has also been announced for any information that leads to the capture of these Mehsud and a top deputy Wali ur Rehman. The State Department also has designated Tarik e Taliban, the Pakistani group they lead, as a terrorist organization.