The United States has asked Pakistan to send troops to protect a future United Nations mission in Iraq, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.
"We have received the request by the US to provide troops for protection of UN mission when it is established," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Masood Khan told AFP.
"This proposal is being examined. This request is distinct from the previous request and it has been made to several other countries also," Masood said.
Pakistan, a key US ally in the war on terror, refused a previous US request to commit troops to Iraq, saying it would only do so under the auspices of the United Nations or under a mandate of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference.
The UN pulled all international UN staff out of Iraq in October, several weeks after 22 people were killed in a suicide bombing at the UN's Baghdad offices.
Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Tuesday he could not guarantee sending a large United Nations team back to Iraq because of the deteriorating security situation.
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