30 Nov 2011

Pakistan to boycott Afghan talks in Bonn

5:03 am on 30 November 2011

Pakistan is to boycott talks on Afghanistan's future, in protest at a NATO airstrike which killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on Saturday.

A conference is due to take place next week in Bonn, Germany, but the government in Pakistan says it will not attend.

The Bonn meeting is aimed at bringing together Western and regional leaders to map out a strategy for Afghanistan after the withdrawal of foreign combat forces in 2014.

The BBC reports the incident has put further strain on relations between NATO and Pakistan.

Pakistan has cut NATO supply lines through its territory to Afghanistan. NATO is investigating what happened.

Officials in Afghanistan say Pakistani troops opened fire on a joint team of US and Afghan special forces hunting Taliban fighters near the border.

One quoted in The Wall Street Journal said that Kabul believed the shooting came from an army base.

The incident occurred about 2.5km from the border, at about 2.30am on Saturday. Helicopters and fighter aircraft hit two border posts there.