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NATO for strategic partnership with Pakistan http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1527513.cms
Friday, May 12, 2006
IANS
ISLAMABAD: The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) would like to develop a strategic partnership with Pakistan to better coordinate the ongoing war against terrorism, a media report said on Friday.
"NATO would like to develop a strategic partnership with Pakistan to fight terrorism," said NATO deputy secretary general Ambassador Alessandro Minuto Rizzo after meeting with President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday.
Rizzo also offered a number of training courses to Pakistan's armed forces, The Nation reported.
Hikmet Cetin, senior civilian representative in Afghanistan said NATO wanted to promote cooperation in intelligence sharing with Pakistan and would like to develop a military-to-military relationship to fight terrorism - a common threat to both Pakistan and NATO.
"We want to improve NATO's image, as Pakistanis do not have much knowledge about our organisation," the official said while inviting Pakistanis to visit the NATO headquarters in Brussels.
NATO troops were deployed in Pakistan following the Oct 8 earthquake to assist in relief and rehabilitation operations.
A 1,100 strong team of NATO light engineers are still in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
The 7.6 magnitude quake killed an estimated 75,000 people and rendered more than 3.5 million homeless in Pakistani Kashmir and parts of the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP).
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