Pakistan blocked a vital supply route for US-led troops in Afghanistan on September 30. The move was in apparent retaliation for an alleged cross-border NATO helicopter strike that killed three Pakistani frontier troops, The British Morning Star said that day.
The blockade appeared to be a big escalation in tensions between Pakistan and the United States.
A permanent stoppage of supply lorries would place huge strains on NATO and damage the already faltering counter-insurgency campaign in Afghanistan.
“We will have to see whether we are allies or enemies”, Pakistani interior minister Rehman Malik said of the border incident.
The Western military alliance has on at least one other occasion acknowledged its error in killing Pakistani security forces stationed close to the border.
Polls show most Pakistanis regard the US as an enemy.