Islamabad: The United States has asked Pakistan to join a "stabilisation force",
which Washington is setting up for peace keeping duties in Iraq.
The peace keeping force to be formed soon would have troops from several Muslim
countries, because US authorities believe that their presence would help pacify the
Iraqis without hurting their religious feelings, local daily 'Dawn' quoted officials
in Washington as saying.
It is still not clear how many troops Pakistan could contribute to this force, but
such details were still being discussed, the officials said.
The State Department has said it is setting up such a force, but refused to disclose
the names of the countries invited to join the force, the paper said.
"A telegram went last night (April 18) to several dozen nations to see if they were
in a position to define a little further how they might fit together and where they
might contribute," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington on
April 19, adding it was not yet decided whether this force would work independently
or under the UN supervision.
Most of the countries now being consulted are from 58 nations that had shown
interest in participating in relief, reconstruction and stabilisation works in Iraq,
the paper said.
PTI
