News
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Pakistan reopens NATO supply route* Foreign Ministry says govt decided to reopen route at
* Torkham after assessing all aspects of security situation
ISLAMABAD: Apologies and assurances from the US ended a 10-day standoff between Pakistan and NATO forces in Afghanistan, as Pakistan on Saturday decided to reopen NATO’s supply route from the Pak-Afghan border at Torkham after a row with the US over a helicopter incursion that killed three Pakistani soldiers.
Sources told Daily Times that US authorities assured the country’s top leadership that such incidents would not happen in the future. They further assured Pakistan that NATO would investigate how the attack took place. NATO officials, during meetings with the top military leadership of Pakistan, admitted their mistake and apologised over the attack, the sources added.
The Foreign Office said on Saturday that after assessing the security situation in all its aspects, the government had decided to reopen the NATO/ISAF supply route from the Pak-Afghan border at Torkham with immediate effect. It said, “Our relevant authorities are now in the process of coordinating with authorities on the other side of the border to ensure smooth resumption of the supply traffic.” Shafeerullah Khan, the top administration official in Khyber Agency where Torkham is located, said, “We are currently waiting for the government’s order about reopening of the border.”
A second border crossing at Chaman in southwestern Balochistan remains open.
A joint NATO-Pakistan investigation had concluded that better cross-border coordination could have avoided the attack in which a NATO helicopter crew based in Afghanistan fired on a Pakistani post along the Afghan border and killed three members of the Frontier Corps. The US on Wednesday apologised for the incident, saying American pilots mistook the soldiers for insurgents they were pursuing. The apology came after a joint investigation into the September 30 incident. Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, had also regretted the helicopter attack. Mullen’s letter to army chief General Ashfaq Kayani followed apologies from US Ambassador Anne Patterson and General David Petraeus. staff report/afp
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk