Tanker
trucks, used to transport fuel to Nato forces in Afghanistan, are seen
parked near oil terminals in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi on May 17,
2012. – Photo by AFP
PESHAWAR: Pakistan allowed four containers of office supplies
for the US embassy in Kabul to cross into Afghanistan for the first
time following a six-month blockade, officials said on Friday.
The trucks were permitted to cross as Pakistan President Asif Ali
Zardari prepares to meet Nato leaders at a key summit in Chicago,
accepting a last-minute invitation after his foreign minister indicated
Pakistan was willing to call time on the blockade.
Islamabad closed its Afghan border crossings to Nato supplies on
November 26 when US air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, leaving
hundreds of containers of international supplies stranded at the port in
Karachi and plunging relations with Washington to a new low.
The four trucks of US embassy supplies crossed Pakistan’s northwest
Torkham border into Afghanistan, the officials told AFP on condition of
anonymity because they were not allowed to release the information to
the media.
“I can’t give you the exact number but a lot more will go to
Afghanistan in coming days. These all are diplomatic shipments, I mean
non-Nato supplies,” one of the officials said.
In Kabul, the US embassy said it could not confirm the shipment.
There were conflicting accounts of when the trucks crossed, with one
source saying they began moving earlier in the week and another saying
they passed through on Friday.
Almost 300 containers of US embassy supplies, including stationery,
computers and printers, are understood to have been stranded in Pakistan
by the blockade.
Pakistan and US officials are still negotiating rules, fees and
logistics for resuming the Nato transit lines, and Islamabad has not
said when Nato supplies will resume.
