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| India-Pakistan |
| Time to 'move on' over Nato supply lines, says foreign minister |
| 2012-05-15 |
| [Dawn] Pakistain's foreign minister indicated Monday the time has come to reopen the country's Afghan border to NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... troop supplies, saying the government had made its point by closing the route for nearly six months in retaliation for deadly US "It was important to make a point, Pakistain has made a point and we now need to move on and go into a positive zone and try to conduct our relations," Khar said during a presser in Islamabad when asked whether she believed Pakistain should reopen the supply route. "We are trying to put this relationship, you know, in a positive zone and I am quite sure that we will be successful in doing so." Asked whether Pakistain would allow a resumption of NATO supplies, Information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, who was also spoke alongside the foreign minister, said a decision would be made in the coming days. "There are a lot of sensitivities," he told news hounds. "How we can share things with you which are under discussion? We will share it in the next three to four days." The ministers' comments offered the clearest indication yet that Pakistain is ready to reopen supply lines, even though Washington has so far refused to apologise for last year's attack and end drone strikes in the country as demanded by Pakistain's parliament. Speaking to media representatives, the foreign minister said Pakistain was negotiating with the US and NATO on the same terms that were approved by the parliament for the process of re-engagement. Moreover, the minister said that the parliamentary recommendations had proved that only a minority of Paks were opposed to normal relations with the Western world. Pakistain wants to continue to be a controller and enabler for the international community, said Khar, adding that the issue is not just that of relations with the US but with 42 countries that have stakes in Afghanistan. The government is likely to face domestic backlash for reopening the NATO route given the rampant anti-American sentiment in the country and vocal opposition by hardliners. The move could also, however, free up over a billion dollars in US military aid that has been frozen for the last year. Pakistain closed transit routes to Afghanistan after a NATO cross-border air attack last November killed 24 Pak soldiers at the Salala checkpost on the Pak-Afghan border. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen had hinted on Friday that Pakistain could miss out on the NATO summit in Chicago on May 20-21 if it failed to reopen supply routes in time. Pakistain is keen to attend the summit that will largely focus on the Afghan war, and an invitation is likely contingent on the country allowing troop supplies to resume. The conference in Chicago, to be attended by more than 60 leaders and heads of state, is regarded as a crucial summit which will map out a future for Afghanistan after most foreign troops withdraw from the warn-ton country by the end of 2014. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 translation: "we need the boodle" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2012-05-15 09:31 |
| #1 We'll see - Pakistan's Govt. can still easily retaliate for the loss in US $$$ by closing off its airspace to any + all Afghan shipments as well. * WAFF > [US Demo Senator Claire McCaskill] PAKISTAN'S REFUSAL TO [Re]OPEN AFGHAN SUPPLY ROUTES COSTING NATO MORE THAN US$9.0MILYUHN A DAY. Add the above to Waffle-happy, ex-Soviet SSRS whom are also at rising risk from the Islamist-Jihadi threat to the Caucasus + CENTASIA = US MAY HAVE TO ATTACK [invade?] NUKE-ARMED PAK BFF IRAN TO SAVE POST-2014 AFGHANISTAN, or even AFPAK. As said times before, POTUS Bammer = USA taint out of truble yet. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2012-05-15 01:52 |