ISLAMABAD, Jan 8: Nato will begin winding down emergency relief operations in Pakistan later this week. “Our intention is to withdraw from Kashmir by Feb 1, to have all our personnel and equipment out and then to be out of Pakistan by the middle of February,” Air Commodore Andrew Walton, the British commander of the 1,000-strong Nato force in Pakistan, said on Sunday.
The Nato relief mission was given a 90-day mandate and the Pakistan government decided that it would not ask the Western alliance to extend the mission.
Some units would be brought down from the mountains in the next couple of days. They had been helping to supply food and shelter and keep roads open, Mr Walton said.
He said his troops had not encountered any animosity although religio-political leaders had sought to sow distrust about Nato’s motives for sending a force to Kashmir.—Reuters
