NATO supply routes to Afghanistan

US Blinks First: Apologies as 8 Month Long Supply Blockade Lifted by Pakistan

In what is bound to be an unpopular decision, Pakistan has agreed to restore (GLOC) route for the NATO supplies after the Americans gave in to Pakistan Army’s demand of an apology for the Salala massacre in November lat year.

Pakistan Kakhuda Hafiz,

26 April, 2012

Pakistan had shut off two key land supply routes in the aftermath of what it called a ‘deliberate’ attack, resulting in the death of 22 of its soldiers.

According to latest reports, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accepted that Salala attack was a mistake on US’s part and apologized for the incident. An official statement is still expected from government of Pakistan.

Earlier President Obama claimed that he is expecting good news from Pakistan while General John Allen also apologized on the incident that was considered as the main bone of contention that was hindering the resumption process. There were indications of this outcome since Gen. John Allen, who was on his second visit to Pakistan in the last few days, indulged in an intense dialogue with Pakistani counterparts who are said to have discussed a long list of demands with regards to Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan’s future. Top of the list of these demands was an unconditional apology for the Salala massacre.

“The continued closure of supply lines not only infringes on our relationship with the U.S., but also on our relations with the 49 other member states of NATO/ISAF,” Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf told senior government and military officials, according a statement issued by his office earlier.

Since the blockade on 26 November 2011, US has suffered huge economic constraints due to the cost of supplying its forces through the expensive alternate routes of Central Asia. Pentagon has asked Congress to shift billions of dollars in the defense budget to pay for added fuel costs to ferry supplies to Afghanistan after Pakistan closed its border to NATO convoys, U.S. officials said Monday.

In an 82-page letter to congressional defense committees, the Pentagon requested “reprogramming” $8.2 billion in funds previously approved to finance more urgent priorities, officials said, AFP reported. There were “some unanticipated costs that we just didn’t foresee,” spokesman Captain John Kirby told reporters.

Government is expected to face huge backlash from Difa-e-Pakistan Council that comprises of some of the most hard line parties such as Jamat-e-Islami, Jamat-ud-Dawa and Jamiyat-ulema-e-Islam who have announced a ‘Long March’ in case supplies are restored.

Addressing the convention on Sunday, Chairman DPC Maulana Sami-ul-Haq said that the rulers of Pakistan have become salves of America whose drone attacks have been killing innocent citizens of the country. He asked as to why the government did not approach the UN to get the drone attacks stopped. Only an hour ago, Imran khan leader of PTI has also shown his resentment on the expected resumption and vowed to protest in case it happens.

Tensions have remained high between US and Pakistan as US closes towards 2014 deadline of withdrawal from Afghanistan shifting its role to training and assistance. There have been numerous incidents where NATO containers were attacked. DPC has categorically stated that it will protest and resist in a non-violent manner, with more political parties such as PTI expected to join, it is yet to be seen how relations between US and PAK develop from where they have been so far.

More on this story soon.

Tabish Qayyum is the co-founder of Defense and Geo-Political Magazine Fortress and Investigative Journalist at PKKH. He is also a writer and educational consultant. He can be reached on twitter @tabesch.

Pakistan to reopen NATO supply route

US secretary of state says supply routes into Afghanistan to reopen after deal between Washington and Islamabad.

al-Jazeera,

3 July, 2012

Pakistan is reopening key supply routes into Afghanistan that have been closed since November when a US air raidin Salala killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has said. During a telephone conversation on Tuesday with her Pakistani counterpart, Hina Rabbani Khar, Clinton said that Washington was sorry for the deaths and that Khar had informed her the ground supply lines would be reopened. Islamabad has long demanded that the US must apologise for November's air raid, before it would reopen the NATO routes, closed in anger after the attack. "Foreign Minister Khar and I acknowledged the mistakes that resulted in the  loss of Pakistani military lives," Clinton said in a statement. "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." In a separate statement, Leon Panetta, the US secretary of defence, said the US "remains committed to improving our partnership with Pakistan and to working closely together as our two nations confront common security challenges in the region". Earlier, Pakistan's new prime minister acknowledged that continuing the seven-month blockade was negatively affecting relations with Washington and other NATO member states. "The continued closure of supply lines not only impinge our relationship with the US, but also on our relations with the 49 other member states of  NATO," Raja Pervez Ashraf told a meeting of top civilian and military leaders. A senior government official said the defence committee of the cabinet had met to discuss whether to end the blockade, but his office stopped short of announcing any decision after the talks ended. Al Jazeera's Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Washington, said there had been "a lot of back and forth on the technical details of what an apology [from the US] would look like". Jordan said the US apology, the result of a very lengthy behind the scenes process, was a "huge" step in addressing fears of US infringement on Pakistani territory. Continued drone strikes in the nation's tribal belt and the aftermath of the US killing of Osama Bin Laden last May, were seen as the major points of contention between Islamabad and Washington. Alternative routes Sherry Rehman, Pakistan's ambassador to the US, said he was hopeful ties with Washington will improve following Tuesday's apology. "We appreciate Secretary Clinton's statement, and hope that bilateral ties can move to a better place from here. I am confident that both countries can agree on many critical issues, especially on bringing peace to the region," Rehman said in a statement. The Pakistani Taliban said on Tuesday that they will attack any NATO supply trucks travelling along the route. Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Peshawar, says that though the Taliban threat is a real one, the scale of the supply operation means that both NATO and Pakistani forces have had to take losses into account from the beginning. "The losses, despite the fact that they have become a problem are nowhere near the levels that would cause alarm bells to ring" our correspondent said. What would cause a problem, however, said Hyder is if "the Pakistani Taliban attack bridges or decide to take these people head on in the tribal areas" connecting Pakistan to the southern Afghan province of Kandahar. The blockade has forced the alliance to rely on longer, more expensive, northern routes through Russia and Central Asia. Initial hopes of a deal on reopening the routes had fallen apart at a NATO summit in Chicago in May amid reports that Pakistan was demanding huge fees for each of the thousands of trucks that rumble across the border every year. But Clinton said on Tuesday: "Pakistan will continue not to charge any transit  fee in the larger interest of peace and security in Afghanistan and the region. "This is a tangible demonstration of Pakistan's support for a secure,  peaceful, and prosperous Afghanistan and our shared objectives in the region." Reopening the routes would help the US and NATO to complete its withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan "at a much lower cost," Clinton said. "This is critically important to the men and women who are fighting  terrorism and extremism in Afghanistan." All foreign combat troops are due to leave Afghanistan at the end of 2014, 13 years after the US invasion of 2001 which toppled the Taliban.