NATO says it will not launch raids in Pakistan

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
NATO troops in Afghanistan would not launch raids into Pakistan, the alliance spokesman said on Thursday. "It is not NATO that will be sending its forces across the border," spokesman James Appathurai told a news conference. The mandate of the 47,000-strong NATO force in Afghanistan stops at the border, he said. "There are no ground or air incursions by NATO forces into Pakistani territory," he said. He spoke to reporters amid Pakistani criticism of a cross-border ground assault last week by United States forces and a barrage of suspected US missile strikes in Pakistan. The United States maintains a counter-terrorism force of several thousand in Afghanistan operating outside the NATO mission.