Mark Sedwill, senior civilian representative for the Western military alliance in Afghanistan, said Pakistani attitudes were hardening towards guerrilla groups that had previously been supported by the state. - File Photo

NEW YORK: Pakistan is so busy battling its own militants that it can do little more to help Nato forces fighting in neighbouring Afghanistan, Nato’s top civilian official there has said.

Mark Sedwill, senior civilian representative for the Western military alliance in Afghanistan, said Pakistani attitudes were hardening towards guerrilla groups that had previously been supported by the state.

“In the past, they had relations with various groups,” he told the Asia Society think tank in New York, but now “I think there has been a shift”.

“To be honest, the Pakistanis are preoccupied with those domestic threats. This is out of hand,” Mr Sedwill said.

He said: ‘‘People sometimes say the Pakistanis must do more.... (but) actually they have lost an awful lot of soldiers fighting the groups that target them. They have their hands full.”—AFP