NATO seeks stronger ties with Pakistan - envoy

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A NATO envoy held talks with senior officials in Pakistan's three-month-old government on Wednesday to deepen military and political ties with a country whose support is crucial to stabilising Afghanistan.

Ambassador James W. Pardew also delivered an invitation for Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to address the North Atlantic Council in Brussels, and NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is expected to visit Pakistan later this year.

"NATO recognises the central importance of Pakistan to the effort towards regional stability," Pardew told journalists in Islamabad.

"We are in Afghanistan for the long haul," he said.

Some 6,000 people were killed in Afghanistan in 2007, the deadliest year since U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in 2001.

There are around 60,000 foreign troops fighting the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, most of them under NATO command.

The envoy said NATO saw a need for greater technical coordination with Pakistani forces, particularly along the Afghan border.

This would reduce the risk of further incidents like one earlier this month when 13 Pakistani soldiers were killed by a U.S. airstrike during an operation against militants who had fired on U.S.-led forces from the Pakistani side of the border.

"We recognise there is an issue here and a problem, and we want to work with Pakistan to resolve it," Pardew said.