Pakistan leaders to discuss re-opening of NATO supplies
PAKISTAN: Pakistani leaders will meet next week to discuss ending a
nearly six-month blockade on NATO supplies into Afghanistan, officials
said Friday.
The meeting will also include discussions on how to repair relations
with the United States in time to attend a key NATO summit later this
month, the officials added.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is understood to have confirmed the
date for Tuesday's meeting of the defence committee of the cabinet from
London, where he is on an official visit to Britain, the second-largest
contributor to the NATO mission in Afghanistan.
Pakistan shut its Afghan border crossings to NATO supplies after US
air strikes inadvertently killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on November 26,
provoking a major crisis in Pakistani-US relations still reeling from
the covert raid that killed Osama bin Laden the previous May.
US officials expressed regret, but stopped short of apologising for
the deaths that an American and NATO investigation said stemmed from
mistakes made on both sides.
"A meeting of the defence committee of the cabinet has been convened
on May 15. It will be followed by cabinet meeting on May 16," said one
senior government official. AFP |
