US asks Pak to attend Bonn conference on Afghanistan

The State Department spokesman, Mark Toner, told reporters that Pakistan is reviewing its participation in the conference, but has not taken a decision yet.

He was responding to questions about reports appearing from Islamabad that Paksitan will not attend the meeting in protest against the killing of its 24 soldiers by NATO forces in a cross-border fire over the weekend.

"We hope that they do in fact attend this conference because this is a conference that is about Afghanistan and building a more stable and prosperous and peaceful Afghanistan. And so that is very much in the interests of Pakistan.

"We believe it's very much in Pakistan's interest to attend the Bonn conference because, the focus of that is all about trying to build a more stable and peaceful Afghanistan," Toner said.

"This is a relationship that's weathered difficult times and has yielded success in our shared battle against terrorists and extremists. We are clear-eyed about where we are at in the relationship. I think we are committed to working through it," he said.