ISLAMABAD, Oct 24: Salient features of an Afghanistan-specific agreement that Pakistan is negotiating with the 26-member North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) would be made public, well-placed government sources told Dawn on Monday.
The agreement for transit facility was requested by Nato exclusively for its peace mission in Afghanistan early this year and it has been in the works for more than six months now.
“The salient features of the agreement with Nato would definitely be made public,” a senior military official told this correspondent on Tuesday.
Officials at the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior and Defence keeping a close watch on it also endorsed the view.
The thinking in official circles is that it would be the right move as it would address the likely concerns about it and counter unnecessary speculations in the public domain.
The draft agreement that basically relates to providing logistical support to Nato forces in Afghanistan is now in its final stages and may get the green light when the Nato chief visits Pakistan next month.
Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam told Dawn on Tuesday that the two sides were “very close” to firming up the agreement and said Pakistan had already given its inputs on the draft proposal.
Earlier, the spokesperson had categorically stated that the transit facility would be confined to logistic support and was not for military operations.
Under the agreement with ISAF, Pakistan has been providing transit route facility to ISAF into Afghanistan for lifting supplies but not for military action. The airfields in Karachi and Islamabad have been used as a transit point for logistic support and Pakistan had provided the overflight facility as well.
Notably this will be Pakistan’s second agreement with Nato. Last year Pakistan entered into the first agreement in the aftermath of the October 8 earthquake. It was for the Nato Disaster Relief Mission in Pakistan for humanitarian assistance in quake-hit areas. The arrival of 800-strong Nato relief team became a major controversy, raising concerns and questions about the real motive behind the move.
However, the Nato team left in February this year at the end of the mutually agreed 90-day period of the relief operation.
Nato’s presence in Pakistan created two ‘firsts’ — it was the first Nato presence in Pakistan and it was the first-ever Nato relief operation in a non-Nato state.
Earlier this year, Nato was inducted as a full member of the Tripartite Commission comprising senior military and foreign ministry officials of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States.
