Pakistan Agrees to Reopen NATO Supply Routes after US Apology

As Pakistan agreed to reopen the land routes into Afghanistan, thousands of Pakistani truck drivers prepared on Wednesday to resume NATO supply convoys to the war-torn country after Washington apologized over its bloodshed it committed killing 24 Pakistani soldiers in a November airstrike.

Islamabad agreed to reopen the routes after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed regret and said it was sorry for the deaths of the 24 Pakistani soldiers in a US air strike. The massacre enraged Pakistan, prompting the closure of the supply lines and plunging ties with the US to a new low, after the American raid to kill Osama bin Laden.

As part of the deal, Washington will release about $1.1 billion to the Pakistani military from a US “coalition support fund” designed to reimburse Pakistan for the cost of counter-insurgency operations, AFP reported.

The supply line breakthrough, announced by Clinton after she spoke by telephone with Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, follows months of negotiations.

The deal drew a swift warning from the Pakistani Taliban that they would attack the supply trucks and kill the drivers if they resumed ferrying supplies to Afghanistan.

The blockade had forced the United States and its allies to rely on longer, more expensive northern routes through Central Asia, Russia and the Caucasus, costing the US military about $100 million a month, according to the Pentagon.

The deal was announced just days before a donor meeting on Afghanistan in Tokyo, when Afghan President Hamid Karzai will seek at least $3.9 billion in annual international aid to rebuild the economy.

Clinton is due to attend the Tokyo talks, as some of the international focus now shifts to rebuilding in Afghanistan with almost all foreign combat troops due to withdraw by the end of 2014.