Access the Samosa archives
NATO invites Pakistan to Chicago summit

By Web Desk/ AFP
May 15th 2012

 

ISLAMABAD: NATO has invited President Asif Ali Zardari to next week’s summit in Chicago, a presidential spokesperson told AFP on Tuesday.

Asked if Zardari would accept the invitation, the spokesman said he would wait for Tuesday’s meeting of the cabinet defence committee, which will discuss reopening NATO supply lines into Afghanistan closed for nearly six months.

The invitation comes a day after Foreign Minister Khar had stated that Pakistan wanted to ‘move beyond’ the Salala incident as it had made its point by keeping the Nato routes shut for almost six months.

Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen had said earlier this week that Pakistan’s participation in the summit in Chicago, scheduled for May 20-21, hinges on its decision on the supply route for the alliance’s mission in Afghanistan.

Both Khar and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had made it clear on Monday that the government is ready to drop its insistence on a formal US apology over the killing of two dozen Pakistani troops in the airstrikes on border posts in Salala, Mohmand Agency.

According to the Associated Press, Nato spokeswoman Oana Lungescu has said that the summit will underline the international community’s commitment to the future of Afghanistan and that Pakistan has an important role to play in that future.

Nato supply routes have been closed for over six months in response to a US attack on a check post that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

Originally published by Tribune Pakistan

Leave a Comment

Comments are closed.