WASHINGTON - The United States has won approval from five countries to expand the northern route for supplies to enter and leave Afghanistan, but would still need Pakistan’s truck-route to move out its troops and equipment when the drawdown begins, the US military said.
The new route would mitigate some of the damage done when Pakistan closed land supply in November in reaction to Nato airstrike that killed 26 Pakistani soldiers, The Washington Post reported. “We now have a two-way approval to move equipment back out of Afghanistan,” US Transport Command head Gen William Fraser was quoted as telling the Senate Armed Services Committee this week. The agreement would allow non-lethal supplies and equipment plus wheeled-armoured vehicles to enter and leave Afghanistan, something that was not permitted before, Fraser said.
Arms and lethal weapons have been carried by aircraft, which are still being used to transport materiel brought to Pakistan by ship, he said. Fraser said that the new approach must still be tested. He said, “Pakistan land-supply-routes still need to be opened because of the large numbers that we are talking about that we need to bring out in a timely manner.”
“We’re tasked this year to bring another 23,000 troops out by the first of October,” he said, noting that excess equipment is already being identified.
In addition, all cargo-capable aircraft that now fly into Afghanistan are being used to remove excess equipment, Fraser said.
In the past, Pakistan’s truck routes to Afghanistan carried 60 to 70 percent of Nato supplies while the northern route handled the rest, the Post said.
The expanded northern-route-agreement involves Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Russia and will help remove troops and motorized equipment as a reduction in US and coalition forces takes place over the next two years.