KABUL/LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) ? Pakistan pulled out of an international conference on the future of Afghanistan on Tuesday, its latest angry riposte after a cross-border attack by NATO that killed 24 of its soldiers and plunged the conflict-plagued region deeper into crisis.
Islamabad's decision to boycott next week's meeting in the German city of Bonn on securing peace after NATO combat troops leave Afghanistan in 2014 means a key player that can lean on Taliban militants to join the process will be absent.
"The cabinet reaffirmed Pakistan's support for stability and peace in Afghanistan and the importance of an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned process of reconciliation," the government said in a statement.
"Pakistan looks forward to the success of this conference but in view of developments and prevailing circumstances has decided not to participate in the conference."
The move will not be a major setback to the process of planning Afghanistan's future as few tangible results were expected at Bonn, despite the attendance of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other government ministers.
Bonn was organized with the expectation that Washington and Kabul would have pinned down by then what their strategic relationship would look like after the departure of foreign combat troops, but talks on this have dragged on inconclusively.
Indeed, Pakistan's decision to pull out over last weekend's border attack was seen by some diplomats as an over-reaction because the conference involves the wider international community, including China, Japan, Iran and the European Union.
A senior diplomat in Kabul dubbed it "a pretty huge miscalculation."
"The agenda of Bonn does not depend on Pakistan, nor does its success depend on Pakistan," a senior British foreign office official told reporters. "But it would be better for Pakistan if she were there. There is a slight risk of the Pakistanis disenfranchising themselves."
Pakistan's participation in Afghanistan's peace process is crucial because it could help lead the Taliban and the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network to the negotiating table.
"Pakistan has an important leverage of facilitating, cooperating, trying to put pressure on the Taliban, trying to put pressure on the Haqqani group," said retired Pakistani general and defense analyst Talat Masood.
"And if Pakistan is absent, there is a possibility that all these levers that Pakistan can exercise to facilitate the withdrawal will not be available."
Pakistan has a long history of ties to militant groups in Afghanistan so it is uniquely positioned to help bring about a peace settlement, a top foreign policy and security goal for the U.S. administration.
PRESSURE TACTICS
The decision to pull out of Bonn appears to be the latest attempt by Pakistan to put pressure on Washington and NATO following what Pakistan says was an unprovoked attack on two combat outposts on the border with Afghanistan last Saturday.
The government statement also reaffirmed Pakistan's decision to review cooperation with the United States and NATO.
"Despite Pakistan's continued efforts to play a positive role for stability and peace in countering terrorism and militancy in the region, the sacrifices of the nation have not been recognized," the statement said.
Fury at the cross-border incident showed no signs of abating. Pakistani cable television operators threatened to block Western news channels they say are anti-Pakistani.
"We want to send them a strong message to stop this. If they don't stop this, then it is our right to stop them," Khalid Arain, president of the All Pakistan Cable Operators Association (APCOA) said in a live media conference. The BBC was the focus of criticism.
Sadiq Lakhani, vice chairman of the APCOA, said the BBC would be blocked by midnight local time (1900 GMT).
NATO described the killings as a "tragic, unintended incident." Separate NATO and U.S. investigations are underway.
A Western official and an Afghan security official who requested anonymity said NATO troops were responding to fire from across the border at the time of the incident.
Pakistan disagrees, saying the attack lasted two hours despite warnings from the outposts, and has reserved the right to retaliate.
Both the Western and Pakistani explanations are possibly correct: that a retaliatory attack by NATO troops took a tragic, mistaken turn in harsh terrain where differentiating friend from foe can be difficult.
An Afghan Taliban commander, Mullah Samiullah Rahmani, said the group had not been engaged in fighting NATO or Afghan forces in the area at the time, although Taliban fighters control several Afghan villages near the border with Pakistan.
A similar cross-border incident on September 30, 2010, which killed two Pakistani service personnel, led to the closure of one of NATO's supply routes through Pakistan for 10 days.
The supply lines have again been shut down, leaving hundreds of supply trucks stranded in a security challenge for Pakistan.
"We are at full strength and on high alert on the highways because of the stranded trucks," said a police official in Muzaffargarh town who asked not to be identified. "We are very worried about the situation. We cannot guarantee security."
NATO supply trucks are often attacked by bandits and militants.
Earlier on Tuesday, protests against NATO spread across Pakistan.
At least 300 members of the student wing of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf, the political party of former cricketer Imran Khan, blocked a road in Lahore and chanted slogans for about 90 minutes.
In Multan in southern Punjab, about as many again chanted "Death to America" and burned U.S. and NATO flags.
"This attack is an attack on all of Pakistan," said Tariq Naimullah, one of the protesters. "Pakistan will become a graveyard for NATO."
(Additional reporting by Chris Allbritton, Augustine Anthony, Zeeshan Haider and Qasim Nauman in ISLAMABAD, Asim Tanveer in MULTAN, Jan Harvey in KABUL and Myra MacDonald in LONDON; Writing by Chris Allbritton; Editing by John Chalmers and Paul Tait)
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