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Pakistan Opens Border for NATO, U.S. Supplies After Air Strike Apologies

09 October 2010 21:45 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Pakistan said it will open a key conduit to move supplies to North Atlantic Treaty Organization and U.S. troops in Afghanistan, APA reports quoting bloomberg.com website.
The Torkhum crossing will open â€œwith immediate effectâ€ after a security assessment, Pakistanâ€™s foreign office said in an e-mailed statement.
The South Asian nation had blocked the passage of supplies for NATO troops fighting in Afghanistan on Sept. 30 after an air strike killed three of its soldiers. The incident underscored tensions between the U.S. and Pakistani armed forces as the American military escalated the number of missile strikes against Taliban and al-Qaeda militants in northwest Pakistanâ€™s tribal region this month.
Since Pakistan closed the border crossing, Taliban guerrillas have claimed responsibility for four assaults that have left tankers parked along the route ablaze.
Earlier today, gunmen destroyed at least 29 oil tankers in southwest Pakistan in the latest attack by Islamist militants on a NATO supply route into Afghanistan, Agence France-Presse said, citing Abdul Mateen, a senior administration official in Mitri.
Most of the 580 daily truckloads of supplies and fuel for the 142,000 North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops fighting the Afghan Taliban cross at Torkham.
U.S. Regret
The Khyber Pass route was reopened after Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed regret for the helicopter attack. Mullenâ€™s letter this week to the Pakistani Army chief of staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, followed apologies from U.S. Ambassador Ann Patterson and the Afghanistan war commander, Army General David Petraeus.
The clash threatened to heighten strains in the relationship with Pakistan, the most important U.S. ally in the Afghan war, as a White House report said Pakistan continues to dodge direct confrontation with insurgents threatening U.S. troops across the border. Lawmakers are demanding the administration push Pakistan to do more in the war against militants who may be plotting attacks in Europe and the U.S.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said this week he is more concerned that Pakistan isnâ€™t pursuing militants within its borders more aggressively than with the flap over the border crossing.
The White House report to Congress found that Pakistanâ€™s military during the first eight months of 2010 continued to avoid direct conflict with Afghan Taliban fighters inside Pakistan or al-Qaeda forces in Northern Waziristan.
The Obama administration, in addition to authorizing 30,000 more troops for Afghanistan in December, is seeking more Pakistani military operations to prevent the Taliban and al- Qaeda from crossing into eastern Afghanistan. The White House scheduled a Dec. 1 review to determine whether U.S. strategy is working.