PARACHINAR, Pakistan — Pakistan blocked a vital supply route for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan on Thursday in apparent retaliation over a reported cross-border helicopter strike by the coalition that killed three Pakistani frontier soldiers.
The blockade appeared to be a major escalation in tensions between Pakistan and the United States.
By late afternoon, a line of more than 150 NATO vehicles was waiting to cross the border into Afghanistan, officials said.
“We will have to see whether we are allies or enemies,” Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said of the border incident, without mentioning the blockade.
NATO said it was investigating Pakistani reports that coalition aircraft had mistakenly attacked its forces. The coalition has on at least one other occasion acknowledged mistakenly killing Pakistani security forces stationed close to the border.
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