Pakistan has said it would withdraw hundreds of thousands of troops on its border with India following a similar pledge by India earlier today.
The moves are the most concrete steps by the two South Asian nuclear rivals to reduce tension since they nearly went to war in May.
"The government of Pakistan has decided to withdraw its forces from the Pakistan-India border to their peacetime locations," the Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement. "The pullback will commence shortly".
India and Pakistan have a long history of tension along their 1,800 mile border, particularly in the disputed Himalayan province of Kashmir. More than one million troops are deployed on both sides.
India said yesterday that it would withdraw tens of thousands of its troops from the border with Pakistan, but none from the Line of Control, which separates Kashmir. The two countries have fought two wars for control of the mountainous province. At least 61,000 people have died in the last 12 years of an insurgency by more than a dozen Islamic groups fighting for Kashmir's secession from India or its merger with Pakistan. AP