Pak-Afghan-NATO commanders discuss border coordination

Top military commanders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and NATO held talks today to improve border coordination, more than two months after a cross-border NATO air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, taking relations between them to a new low.

The meeting between representatives of the Pakistan Army, Afghan National Army and the International Security Assistance Force was held at a border coordination centre at Torkham along the border with Afghanistan.

Director General of Military Operations Maj Gen Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmed represented the Pakistan Army.

The meeting was part of tripartite engagements to "discuss and improve various coordination measures" on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the Pakistan Army said in a statement.

Pakistan closed all NATO supply routes and forced the US to vacate Shamsi airbase, believed to be a hub for CIA-operated drones, after the NATO air strike in November last year. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had also ordered a parliamentary review of relations with the US.

Last week, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar went to Kabul for talks aimed at reviving cooperation for the Afghan reconciliation process.