First shipment of NATO containers crosses into Afghanistan

After a seven-month of blockage, a couple of NATO trucks carrying supplies for allied forces crossed into Afghanistan on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Islamabad allowed western countries to use its land route to supply troops battling in Afghanistan after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said sorry over the losses Pakistan army suffered in the NATO air-strike that killed 24 troops at the Salala check-post.

Media reports quoting customs officials said that the trucks have passed through the Chaman border crossing into Southern Afghanistan. Pakistan struck a new deal with the United States to end the deadlock between the two ally countries.

An official of the customs department while speaking to the media said that they had received orders on Wednesday to allow NATO containers.  On the other hand, the security officials said that they received the orders Thursday and permitted the crossing.

According to an official, the first shipment of containers was comprised mineral water was cleared to enter Afghanistan from the border post. He noted, “Two NATO containers parked in customs house for the last seven months have crossed into Afghanistan from the Chaman border”.

Pakistan blocked the supply routes after the killings of the soldiers and demanded an unconditional apology from the United States. However, the Obama administration refused the demand of apology for what NATO said was an unfortunate incident.

In result of closure by Pakistan, the allied countries were forced to bring in supplies into landlocked Afghanistan through alternative routes. However, it was costing manifold expensive to the NATO countries to avail alternate ways.

NATO commanders said the route closure didn’t affect operations in Afghanistan, the war-torn country, where foreign troops were fighting battle against Taliban for more than one decade. However, the admitted it could have more difficult once the allied countries begin to withdraw their forces in 2014.

In the meantime, the deal between Washington and Islamabad will ease tensions between the countries. Both the countries level charges against each other for violating the boundaries and supporting the militants in cross-border strikes.

Pakistan also expressed resentment over increased number of drone strikes on its northwestern tribal region.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jul 5 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.