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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistan, US sign troop supply deal |
| 2012-08-01 |
| ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the United States signed a deal regulating the shipment of American troop supplies to and from Afghanistan yesterday, prompting Washington to agree to release over $1 billion in frozen military aid. The deal codifies a largely informal arrangement that has allowed the international coalition to truck supplies through Pakistan over the past decade. Pakistan pushed for a written pact during months of negotiations, and it is expected to be extended to other NATO countries. US Charge d'Affaires Richard Hoagland, who signed the agreement for the US, called it a "concrete very positive step." "Of course it's clear to our political leadership in both capitals ... that we have a number of other issues to work on," said Hoagland at the signing ceremony at the Pakistani Ministry of Defense in Rawalpindi. The route through Pakistan will be vital to the scheduled withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in 2014, one of the reasons the US finally agreed to Islamabad's demand that it apologize for the deaths of the Pakistani soldiers. The US had to compensate for the temporary closure by using a longer route into Afghanistan through Central Asia that cost an additional $100 million per month. |
| Posted by:Steve White |