NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen speaks at the National Press Club in Canberra on June 13, 2012. NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen on June 13 vowed not to abandon Afghanistan as foreign nations plan to transition forces out of the country after a decade of conflict. AFP PHOTO / Mark GRAHAM
Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen speaks at the National Press Club in Canberra on June 13, 2012.    —Photo by  AFP

CANBERRA: Nato’s chief hopes to soon reopen military supply routes through Pakistan despite new transport agreements with other Afghanistan neighbours providing alternatives.

Nato this week struck agreements with Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan allowing the military to evacuate hardware from Afghanistan and bypass Pakistan. Pakistan closed its southern supply routes six months ago after US airstrikes accidentally killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

The US recently said a negotiating team was returning home without a deal to reopen the routes. But Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters in Australia on Wednesday that he hopes Pakistan routes will reopen “in the not too distant future.”

He says Central Asian alternatives could prove more costly.

Opinion

Editorial

Digital growth
Updated 25 Apr, 2024

Digital growth

Democratising digital development will catalyse a rapid, if not immediate, improvement in human development indicators for the underserved segments of the Pakistani citizenry.
Nikah rights
25 Apr, 2024

Nikah rights

THE Supreme Court recently delivered a judgement championing the rights of women within a marriage. The ruling...
Campus crackdowns
25 Apr, 2024

Campus crackdowns

WHILE most Western governments have either been gladly facilitating Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, or meekly...
Ties with Tehran
Updated 24 Apr, 2024

Ties with Tehran

Tomorrow, if ties between Washington and Beijing nosedive, and the US asks Pakistan to reconsider CPEC, will we comply?
Working together
24 Apr, 2024

Working together

PAKISTAN’S democracy seems adrift, and no one understands this better than our politicians. The system has gone...
Farmers’ anxiety
24 Apr, 2024

Farmers’ anxiety

WHEAT prices in Punjab have plummeted far below the minimum support price owing to a bumper harvest, reckless...