BRUSSELS, Dec 28: Nato hopes Pakistan’s military will continue to help combat insurgents near the Afghan border despite the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, an official said here on Friday.

The official underscored that while security in Pakistan was “very volatile” in the wake of Ms Bhutto’s death, Nato “does not intend to change” its military plan in Afghanistan.

“It is clearly necessary that Pakistan should be part of the solution in Afghanistan and not part of the problem,” the official said.

“We all need to see, as Nato, the maximum, not only efforts, but also effectiveness in cutting off cross-border support to extremists in Afghanistan,” he said.

“The situation in Pakistan is unstable, it is very volatile and it is impossible to predict where it will go,” in the wake of Ms Bhutto’s assassination, the Nato official said.

“But we ... would wish to see maximum efforts on the Pakistani side to continue its cooperation with us and the Afghans to stem that cross-border support in spite of the very difficult situation Pakistan is going through.” He said that a so-called “tripartite commission” of Isaf, Afghan and Pakistani military officials continued to meet.

“Military-to-military cooperation is fine. It has not diminished,” he said.—AFP