Americas

Americas

Pakistan reopens NATO supply routes: Clinton

03 July 2012 20:47 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday that Pakistan has informed Washington that it is reopening the ground supply routes for NATO forces in Afghanistan, which were closed after a deadly NATO airstrike on Pakistani border outposts last November,APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"I’m pleased that (Pakistani) Foreign Minister (Rabbani) Khar has informed me that the ground supply lines into Afghanistan are opening," Clinton said in a statement after having a phone conversation with her Pakistani counterpart on Tuesday morning.

The two discussed over the phone the tragic incident of last November in Salala, near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, in which 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in the NATO airstrike.

The incident led to new tensions in the relations between Pakistan and the United States, as Islamabad closed all land supply routes to NATO forces in Afghanistan in retaliation. Pakistan demanded a formal apology from the U.S. government for the incident, but Washington has so far refused to do so.

"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," Clinton said in the statement.