Zardari solves stalemate over NATO route
20 May 2012 9:12 AM GMT
President Asif Ali Zardari played a key behind-the-scenes role in negotiations that helped end a stalemate in Pakistan-US ties over a deadly cross-border NATO attack and paved the way for Islamabad's participation in a crucial summit on Afghanistan, official sources said on Saturday.
Zardari took the initiative to break the logjam in bilateral ties after negotiations faltered when hawks and the security establishment insisted on a US apology for the NATO air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November. Pakistan had retaliated to the attack by closing supply lines for foreign forces in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Defying the White House veto threat, the Republican-majority US House of Representatives has passed the USD 643 billion defence authorisation bill for 2013 that among other things calls for certain conditions for American aid to Pakistan.
Zardari took the initiative to break the logjam in bilateral ties after negotiations faltered when hawks and the security establishment insisted on a US apology for the NATO air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November. Pakistan had retaliated to the attack by closing supply lines for foreign forces in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Defying the White House veto threat, the Republican-majority US House of Representatives has passed the USD 643 billion defence authorisation bill for 2013 that among other things calls for certain conditions for American aid to Pakistan.
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