Pakistan has resumed some co-operation with US-led forces in Afghanistan following Nato strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers by working with the coalition to prevent another cross-border incident from escalating, a spokesman says. The weekend airstrikes have severely strained the already troubled relationship between Pakistan and the US, jeopardising Washington's hopes of enlisting Islamabad's support in winding down the Afghan war.
Pakistan is still outraged by the soldiers' deaths and has retaliated by closing its Afghan border crossings to Nato supplies, demanding the US vacate an air base used by American drones and boycotting an international conference aimed at stabilising Afghanistan.
But Nato said Islamabad communicated with the alliance to prevent an exchange of fire over the border late Tuesday from turning into another international incident. US forces received mortar and recoilless rifle fire from an area just inside the Pakistan border, said US spokesman Navy Lieutenant Cmdr. Brian Badura. US forces returned fire in self-defence while confirming with the Pakistani military that it wasn't involved. No damage or casualties were reported by the US or Pakistan, he said.
German Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson, a Nato spokesman in Kabul, expressed hope on Wednesday that Pakistan's co-operation in resolving the incident in eastern Afghanistan's Paktia province signalled the two sides could recover from the recent tragedy.
``We are continuing operations and it is of great importance that the incidents of Saturday, as tragic as they were, do not disrupt our capability to operate in the border area and cooperate with the Pakistani side,'' said Jacobson. The Pakistani military did not immediately respond to request for comment on the latest incident. Pakistani and American officials have offered different accounts of how Nato aircraft attacked two Pakistan army posts before dawn Saturday. But it seems clear that a breakdown in communication contributed to the tragedy.
According to US military records described to The Associated Press, the incident occurred when a joint US and Afghan patrol requested backup after being hit by mortar and small arms fire by Taliban militants. Before responding, the joint US-Afghan patrol first checked with the Pakistani army, which reported it had no troops in the area, the military account said.