Updated on
Summary Pakistan said Wednesday it could not attend the Bonn conference unless its security was ensured.
The country however appeared to have softened slightly after Washington led calls on Islamabad to reconsider a boycott.The cabinet agreed on the boycott to protest against Saturdays attack on the Afghan border, the deadliest such assault by NATO troops in 10 years of war in Afghanistan that has plunged US-Pakistani ties into deep crisis.But on Wednesday, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani appeared to hold out the possibility of conditions, briefing reporters on a call made by Afghan President Hamid Karzai asking him to reconsider.I replied that the territory of Afghanistan was being used against Pakistan and he said it was done by NATO and I told him to talk to the US about it.I told him that we have to protect our country and work for its security and defence. If we go to Bonn for you then who will guarantee our security. We cannot just go like this if someone will not ensure our security, he added.Pakistan has closed the Afghan border to NATO, a lifeline for 140,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, ordered US personnel by December 11 to leave an air base reportedly used by CIA drones and launched a review of the alliance.The military has released footage it said was filmed after the attack, showing rubble, apparently of two destroyed checkposts.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday pledged an investigation as swiftly and thoroughly as possible and hoped Pakistan would find a follow-up way to take part in talks on Afghanistans future.But she stopped short of apologising, as recommended by a key US senator -- should an official investigation show that the strikes were a mistake.Im one who believes that, if we made a mistake, we should admit it, we should apologise, Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, told AFP.But if we didnt make a mistake, and the other side was the first one to fire on us, were going to respond, she added.As a neighbour with historic ties to the Taliban, Pakistan is considered integral to ending the decade-long conflict, but experts say a boycott matters less now that expectations for Bonn have been dramatically curtailed.Diplomats had hoped the conference would help broker peace with the Taliban, who will not be attending either.
