Pak blocks UN route after Nato airstrikes
Sept. 30: Pakistan blocked a vital supply route for United States and Nato troops in Afghanistan on Thursday in apparent retaliation for an alleged cross-border helicopter strike by the coalition that killed three Pakistani frontier soldiers. The blockade appeared to be a major escalation in tensions between Pakistan and the United States.
A permanent stoppage of supply trucks would place massive strains on the relationship between the two countries and hurt the Afghan war effort. Even a short halt is a reminder of the leverage Pakistan has over the United States at a crucial time in the nine-year-old war. By late afternoon, a line of more than 150 Nato vehicles were waiting to cross the border into Afghanistan, officials said.
A Reuters report said Nato aircraft crossed the border into Pakistan on Thursday morning and killed “several armed individuals”, the alliance said in a statement, after Pakistan said a cross-border airstrike killed three border guards.
Aircraft from the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) initially crossed the border briefly while targeting suspected insurgents who were firing on a coalition base from a position inside Afghanistan, the statement said. They were then fired on by people in Pakistan, and crossed the border again to target that group.
The statement did not say if ISAF thought those killed were border guards, and when asked for clarification, an ISAF spokeswoman said both sides were still investigating the incident.
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