NATO Aircraft Accused of Killing Pakistani Troops

Tensions escalate between the U.S. and its key partner in the Afghanistan mission.

Reports have emerged that NATO killed 24 Pakistani troops in an airstrike Saturday along a frontier where militants were believed to be hiding. In response, Islamabad has blocked supply routes for troops in Afghanistan and forced the U.S. to vacate a drone base within two weeks. As the investigation unfolds, already tenuous U.S.-Pakistani relations have deteriorated leading Pakistan to re-evaluate all military, diplomatic and intelligence projects with NATO. The U.S. currently ships nearly a third of its non-lethal supplies to Afghanistan through Pakistan. If the investigation finds the report to be accurate, this would be NATO’s most fatal friendly fire incident since the start of the war.