Pakistan reopens NATO supply routes to Afghanistan

[pinto]

Source: LA Times

July 3, 2012 | 10:22am

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistani leaders on Tuesday ended a seven-month blockade on Afghanistan-bound NATO supply routes through their country, a long-awaited move that hinged on Washington's acquiescence to Islamabad's demand for an apology for the deaths of two dozen Pakistani soldiers killed by errant U.S. airstrikes last fall.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she had called her Pakistani counterpart, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, on Tuesday and issued an apology for the soldiers' deaths: "We are sorry for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military. We are committed to working closely with Pakistan and Afghanistan to prevent this from ever happening again."

The closure of the supply routes had been costing U.S. and its allies in Afghanistan about $100 million a month, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta told Congress in June. Without transit access through Pakistan, NATO was forced to rely exclusively on a much more costly supply route through Central Asia.

For Pakistan, however, the need to resolve the stalemate was equally urgent. President Asif Ali Zardari’s government grew concerned about becoming increasingly estranged from the West and potentially losing millions of dollars in U.S. aid.


Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/07/pakistan-reopens-nato-supply-routes-afghanistan.html