BRUSSELS, June 4: Nato has concluded agreements with Central Asian countries allowing it to evacuate vehicles and other military equipment from Afghanistan and completely bypass Pakistan, which once provided the main supply route for coalition forces.

Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Monday that Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan had agreed to allow the reverse transport of alliance equipment.

Since Nato already has an agreement with Russia, the deal will allow it to ship back to Europe tens of thousands of vehicles, containers and other items through the overland route when the evacuation picks up pace later this year.

Pakistan shut down the supply routes six months ago after US air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at two border posts, forcing Nato to switch almost completely to the so-called Northern Distribution Network.

The announcement on Monday is also likely to put pressure on Pakistan to ease its negotiating stance, which has been stuck in part on how much money the US and Nato should pay to transport the trucks through Pakistani territory.

Nato plans to hand over lead responsibility for the war against the Taliban to the US-backed Afghan army and police by the middle of next year, and withdraw its troops after two-and-a-half years. The alliance already has started drawing down its forces, which reached a peak of about 140,000 last year.

The Afghan security forces will have more than 350,000 members in the next few months. The international withdrawal is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014.

“These agreements will give us a range of new options and the robust and flexible transport network we need,” Mr Rasmussen told reporters.—Agencies