Pakistani suggests NATO supplies should resume

By SEBASTIAN ABBOT

Associated Press

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s foreign minister suggested Monday that the country should reopen its Afghan border to NATO troop supplies, saying the government has made its point by closing the route for nearly six months in retaliation for U.S. airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani troops.

Reopening the border risks a domestic backlash in Pakistan given Washington’s refusal to apologize for last year’s attack, which it says was an accident. But it could help ensure Pakistan has a role in the future of Afghanistan as NATO prepares to retool its strategy there during a major conference that starts Sunday in Chicago.

Pakistan’s presence would benefit the U.S.-led coalition as well, since the country is seen as key to striking a peace deal with the Taliban and their allies in Afghanistan that would allow foreign troops to withdraw without the nation descending into further chaos.

The supply line running through Pakistan to landlocked Afghanistan will be key to that withdrawal as NATO pulls out more than a decade’s worth of equipment. It has been critical for shipping in supplies as well, although the U.S. has reduced its reliance on Pakistan in recent years by using a more costly route through Central Asia.

Shams Shahwani, a senior official in Pakistan’s Petroleum Tanker Owners Association, said he was contacted Monday by Petroleum Ministry officials who told him the NATO supply route will likely be opened by Wednesday evening. They told him to assemble his tankers in Karachi so they are ready to start transporting petroleum.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said the government made the right decision to close the border to NATO to send a message to Washington that the attack on its troops in November was unacceptable.

“It was important to make a point. Pakistan has made a point and now we can move on,” Khar said at a news conference in Islamabad when asked whether she believed Pakistan should reopen the supply route.