DAWN.COM

Today's Paper | May 22, 2024

Published 18 Mar, 2011 01:22pm

Pakistan to boycott Afghan meeting over deadly US strike

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan told the United States on Friday it would not attend a meeting on Afghanistan later this month, angered by a US missile strike that killed atleast 40 people and drew rare condemnation from the country's powerful military chief.

Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir lodged a strong protest with US ambassador Cameron Munter who was summoned to the foreign offfice a day after the attack in the Datta Khel region of North Waziristan, a spokeswoman said.

“Ambassador Munter was also conveyed that under the current circumstances, Pakistan would not be able to participate in the trilateral meeting between Afghanistan-Pakistan-US,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.

“It was evident that the fundamentals of our relations need to be revisited. Pakistan should not be taken for granted nor treated as a client state,” the statement said.

The United States had proposed the trilateral meeting in Brussels on March 26 to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, according to the statement.

Read Comments

PM Shehbaz announces day of mourning on Tuesday for Iranian helicopter crash victims Next Story