WASHINGTON: A 2008 diplomatic cable, from the then US ambassador Anne Patterson, to Washington, confirmed news reports that Nato planes had been using Pakistan's airspace with Islamabad's consent.
The cable released by WikiLeaks said that about 150 Nato flights crossed Pakistan's airspace every day.
The ambassador said that sometimes Pakistani planes tried to follow those planes but the efforts stopped after US officials spoke to senior Pakistani military officials.
Another cable sent on Nov 17, 2008, says that US military containers that pass through Pakistan on their way to Afghanistan never contain weapons or ammunition.
The cable sent notes that the Pakistani media often report that ammunition and arms off hijacked US convoys are being sold in Pakistan.
“To be clear, no weapons, ammunition or sensitive electronics are shipped to Afghanistan by land routes through Pakistan,” she told Washington while commenting on the media reports.
The cable notes that after the hijacking of two US military contracted trucks in 2008, “the Pakistani rumour mill has generated reports about weapon caches supposedly stolen from US military and Nato convoys complete with elaborate descriptions of non-existent contents of containers”.
The ambassador assures Washington that “any reports of agents buying weapons from stolen US military or Nato containers are false”.
