Pakistan resumes some cooperation: Nato

Published November 30, 2011

This handout photograph taken on November 26, 2011 and released by the Pakistan's Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) on November 30, 2011 shows an alleged Pakistani border post following an apparent cross-border Nato air strike on the Pakistani border on a mountain in the Mohmand tribal district. -AFP Photo

KABUL: Pakistan resumed some cooperation 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 said Wednesday.

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 stabilizing Afghanistan.

But Nato said Islamabad communicated with the alliance to prevent an exchange of artillery fire late Tuesday from turning into another international incident.

German Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson, a Nato spokesman in Kabul, expressed hope that Pakistan's cooperation in resolving the incident in eastern Afghanistan's Paktia province signaled the two sides could recover from the recent tragedy.

He did not provide more details about targets or who was doing the shooting but said no damage or injuries were reported.

''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, killing 24 soldiers. But it seems clear that a breakdown in communication contributed to the tragedy.

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