Pakistan reopens Afghan supply routes as US says sorry
WASHINGTON: Pakistan agreed to reopen key supply routes into Afghanistan on Tuesday, ending a bitter stand-off after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was sorry for the loss of life in a botched air raid.A US official said that as part of the deal Washington will release about $1.1 billion to the Pakistani military from a US “coalition support fund” designed to reimburse Pakistan for the cost of counter-insurgency operations.
The money had been frozen due to the tensions between the two countries.
The agreement ends a seven-month diplomatic row that had seen US-Pakistan ties, already soured by the US killing of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, plunge to a new low and gravely impede US and Nato efforts in Afghanistan.
The breakthrough, announced by Clinton after she spoke by telephone with Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, follows months of negotiations.
Islamabad, a key but wary ally in the fight against Taliban militants, had steadfastly insisted Washington should apologise for the November attack when a US aircraft mistakenly killed 24 Pakistan soldiers.
“Foreign Minister Khar and I acknowledged the mistakes that resulted in the loss of Pakistani military lives,” Clinton said in a statement.
“We are sorry for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military. We are committed to working closely with Pakistan and Afghanistan to prevent this from ever happening again.”
Pakistan confirmed it had decided to reopen the routes into Afghanistan, which are vital as the US and its Nato allies withdraw troops and equipment from Afghanistan ahead of a 2014 deadline.
“The meeting of Pakistan’s defence committee (DCC) of the cabinet has decided to reopen the Nato supplies,” the minister of information, Qamar Zaman Kaira, told reporters in Islamabad.
Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, who chaired the meeting, also acknowledged it was time to end the blockade.
“The continued closure of supply lines not only impinge our relationship with the US, but also on our relations with the 49 other member states of Nato,” he told top civilian and military leaders.
But underlining ever-present security fears, the deal drew a swift warning from the Pakistani Taliban that they would attack Nato supply trucks and kill the drivers if they tried to resume ferrying in supplies to Afghanistan.
Spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP the Taliban “will not allow any truck to pass and will attack it.” The blockade had forced the United States and its allies to rely on longer, more expensive northern routes through Central Asia, Russia and the Caucasus, costing the US military about $100 million a month, the Pentagon has said.
Initial hopes of a deal on reopening the routes had fallen apart at a Nato summit in Chicago in May, amid reports that Pakistan was demanding huge fees for the thousands of trucks that rumble across the border every year.
Clinton stressed that “Pakistan will continue not to charge any transit fee,” adding it was “a tangible demonstration of Pakistan’s support for a secure, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan.”
The deal was announced just days before Tokyo hosts a donor’s meeting on Afghanistan this weekend, when Afghan President Hamid Karzai will reportedly seek $3.9 billion in annual international aid to rebuild the economy.
The deal sends “a strong signal going into… the Afghan conference in Tokyo that we are back on track in terms of being able to support the Nato mission,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
Clinton is due to attend the Tokyo talks, as some of the international focus now shifts to rebuilding in Afghanistan with almost all foreign combat troops due to withdraw by the end of 2014, some 13 years after the 2001 US invasion.
The US commander of Nato-led forces in Afghanistan, General John Allen, who held talks in Islamabad twice in the last six days, praised the deal as “a demonstration of Pakistan’s desire to help secure a brighter future for both Afghanistan and the region at large.”
Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, Sherry Rehman, also stressed that it showed Islamabad was “playing our role as responsible global partner in stabilizing the region.”
We appreciate Secretary Clinton’s statement, and hope that bilateral ties can move to a better place from here,” she said.
While Islamabad had demanded a formal apology for the deaths of its border troops, a US and Nato investigation said the killings were the result of mistakes made on both sides.
Pakistan’s Foreign secretary arrives in New Delhi for talks
NEW DELHI: Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani reached Delhi along with a delegation to hold two day talks with his Indian counterpart Ranjan Mathai from 4-5 July.Speaking with the media representatives at the IGI airport at Delhi, soon after his arrival, Pakistani Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani said, “I have brought good wishes and I am looking forward to my very constructive dialogue with my counterpart Ranjan Mathai,” said Jalil Abbas Jilani.
He said, “I have been mandated by the leadership to move this peace process forward”.
Jilani was received at the airport by Pakistan’s High Commission to New Delhi Salman Bashir, officers of the High Commission and Joint Secretary (PAI) in the Ministry of External Affairs of Government of India Y.K. Sinha.
Foreign Office of Pakistan has announced that it would be holding the two-day Foreign Secretary level talks on “Peace and Security” including CBMs, Jammu and Kashmir and Friendly Exchanges in New Delhi.
According to the statement issued by the Foreign Office said the talks on these segments would be led by Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani.
The visit of the Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani to India for bilateral talks will also provide an opportunity to the two foreign secretaries to exchange views on bilateral matters.
US to free up $1.1bn for Pakistan: official
WASHINGTON: The United States will release about $1.1 billion to Pakistan’s military as part of a deal that will see Islamabad lift a blockade on Nato supply convoys into Afghanistan, a US official said Tuesday.The money, from a US “coalition support fund” designed to reimburse Pakistan for the cost of counter-insurgency operations, had been withheld due to tensions between the two countries and Islamabad’s closure of the supply routes.
Pakistan and the United States announced earlier that the border would be open once again to Nato convoys.
The coalition support fund is often the subject of wrangling between US and Pakistani officials, with Islamabad’s claims often rejected and smaller sums approved by Washington for reimbursement.
The $1.1 billion that will be freed up under the border deal does not include large sums that Pakistan says it is owed, said the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“This is the amount that has been approved and already gone through the process,” the US official told AFP.
LATEST/BRIEF NEWS:
· Pak-India foreign secretaries meet
today
· We are sorry for Pakistan military losses:
Clinton
· Appreciate Clintons statement: Sherry
Rehman
· NATO restoration notice likely today
· DCC decides to reopen NATO supply
route
· Panetta welcomes Pakistan''s decision
to reopen NATO supply route
· Two gunned down in Karachi
· Musharraf's mother-in-law dies
· Doctors appointed in teaching
hospitals of Punjab
· Malaysia's IPO boom is a one-off:
analysts
· India, Pakistan talks take place amid
fresh tensions
· Pakistan needs to do more
against terrorism: Krishna
· Pak foreign secretary pledges support
to India in fight against terror
· Pakistan-India Foreign Secretary
level talks today
· Sindh achieves Rs 25 bln revenue target
· MQM doing politics of principles:
Rizvi
· The Supreme Court has issued its
detailed judgment on Speaker National Assembly's ruling regarding Former Prime
Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's case.
· Faisal Raza Abidi quits as President
Zardari’s Adviser
· Faisal Raza Abidi resigns as PPP
Karachi president
· Supreme Court approves 8 IPPs
petitions for hearing against government
· Musharraf says returning Pakistan
next year
· Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf
has said there are numerous opportunities for foreign investors especially in
the engineering power horticulture and manufacturing sectors.
Business News:
EXCHANGE FOR CURRENCY
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U.S.A 95.24
S.Arabia 25.40
U.K 149.54
Japan 1.1943
Euro 120.00
U.A.E 25.93
BULLION RATES IN RUPEES
PER 10 GRAMS
KARACHI
Gold Tezabi (24-ct) Rs 49,114
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