Pakistan to Open NATO Supply Route

Pakistan to Open NATO Supply Route
Copyright By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 9, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/world/asia/10pstan.html?hp


ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan will reopen a crucial border crossing used to carry supplies to NATO troops in Afghanistan, the authorities said Saturday — the 10th day of a blockade that has raised tensions with Washington and left tanker trucks stranded and under attack.

The border is normally closed on Sundays, so it seemed as if Monday would be the first day the flow of supplies over the northwest crossing at Torkham would resume, said a United States Embassy spokesman, Richard Snelsire. He called Pakistan’s decision a “positive development.” In a short statement, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said that it had decided to reopen the border after assessing security and that the authorities on both sides were coordinating efforts to assure the smooth resumption of the supply traffic.

Pakistan closed the border crossing on Sept. 30, after a NATO airstrike that day killed two Pakistani soldiers along the border. The United States apologized after an investigation concluded the “tragic event could have been avoided with better coalition force coordination with the Pakistan military.”

Pakistan is a key supply route for fuel, military vehicles, spare parts, clothing and other non-lethal supplies for foreign troops in Afghanistan. The closing of Torkham has left scores of trucks from the port of Karachi stranded and vulnerable to attack, and caused severe traffic bottlenecks to the open but smaller Chaman crossing in the southwest.

In the latest attack, at least 10 gunmen armed with a rocket attacked 29 tankers carrying NATO fuel supplies before dawn on Saturday, setting them on fire near a roadside restaurant in the area of Mithri. Two responding police officers were wounded, a local government official said.

After the border reopens, tensions will remain in the relationship between the United States and Pakistan, especially over Pakistan’s unwillingness to go after Afghan Taliban militants on its territory. Pakistan has strong historical ties to the militants, who generally focus their attacks on Western troops, not Pakistani targets.

The United States has significantly increased the number of C.I.A. drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal belt, including two late on Friday in North Waziristan that killed nine people suspected of being militants — the seventh and eighth missile strikes this month.

The United States and NATO at one point sent about 80 percent of their nonlethal supplies into landlocked Afghanistan through Pakistan, but have been steadily reducing that number, instead using Central Asian routes to the north and other means. About 40 percent of supplies now come through Pakistan, 40 percent through the Central Asian routes, and 20 percent by air, according to the United States Embassy.