The cost of the US-led war effort in Afghanistan is about to rise by $365 million annually under an agreement that would reopen a key NATO supply route through Pakistan that’s been closed for nearly six months, the Christian Science Monitor reported on Wednesday.
The accord, which the Pakistani government announced late Tuesday, would revive the transport of vital supplies of fo
In return, the US is asking Pakistan to provide security for the supplies, which are trucked through the country by private local transport companies, and much speedier clearance of customs and checkpoints. Militants and robbers frequently attack trucks carrying NATO goods. No effective security had been provided in the past. “Security is the most important thing we require for swift transportation to be sustained,” said Nadeem Khan, the chief executive of Raaziq International, one of the major Pakistani companies involved in carrying NATO supplies. “That is the least that the (Pakistani) government can provide us as taxpayers.” Before the Pakistan route was suspended, 30 percent of coalition supplies passed through the country, according to the Pentagon. Reopening the route could be key to plans by NATO forces to end their combat mission in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, a goal that would require the US and other countries to move equipment out of Afghanistan to Pakistani ports. American and Pakistani negotiators are still haggling over details of the new supply agreement. A definitive deal is likely by early next week.
600 trucks a day
The NATO traffic in and out of Afghanistan through Pakistan is anticipated to be as many as 600 trucks a day between now and the end of next year. Until now, Pakistan, which joined the United States as an ally in invading Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, has charged only nominal fees for shipments to US-led forces. But the new charge is considered a Pakistani effort to assert itself in its relationship with Washington, which suffered a series of serious setbacks last year, beginning with a CIA contractor’s shooting of two Pakistani civilians in January, continuing with the May raid that found and killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and ending with the border outpost attack.
Late Tuesday, after a meeting of Pakistan’s top civilian and military officials in Islamabad, the prime minister’s office confirmed that the NATO supply route, known as GLOC or Ground Lines of Communications, would be reopened, subject to final negotiations.
The meeting “authorized officers of relevant ministries/departments to conclude the ongoing negotiation on the new terms and conditions for resumption of GLOCs,” a statement from the prime minister’s office said.
No apology necessary? In a major climb-down, Pakistan dropped its demand that Washington apologize for the deaths due to the November raids. There was also no agreement to end controversial strikes by American drone aircraft against suspected militants in Pakistan’s tribal area, as demanded by a cross-party resolution of Pakistan’s Parliament. The statement added that “the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would continue to remain engaged with the government of the United States on other parliamentary recommendations, including the question of apology and cessation of drone attacks.” The other major point of contention, on which no accord was announced, is the money that the United States owes Pakistan under the Coalition Support Funds program that reimburses Islamabad for the cost of guarding its western frontier with Afghanistan. According to Pakistani security officials, Pakistan is owed more than $2 billion and hasn’t received a payment for two years.
Ashamed of myself and my country.
This deal greatly concerns Mr Zardari and his coterie! He does'nt want to land in the next cell to Mr Noriega of Panama, And lose all his assets abroad! Unless he is promised another term for his party;-)
Zardari is a thug and a thief.. Shame on pakistanis to keep him in office
to reopen Afghan -Pakistan trade route was necessary and in favour of pakistan .But before opening this route we should implement the resolution which parliamentary committee has passed.
halt of Drone attacks
indemnity for the destruction of roads should be demanded from NATO.In near future an important conference on the fate of Afghanistan is going to be held and pakistan participation as a major regional member is essential .It not only important for for pakistan but also for the whole region .It would help to reduce the terrorism from the region.
Where is our "brave" army chief? We have given in to every single US demand and gotten nothing. They will not stop drone attacks. Our army will not defend our borders. kiayani will keep stuffing his own pockets at the expense of national security. Our roads and infrastructure will be destroyed and the gillani govt. will keep making promises that they have no intentions to keep. Stupid people will vote the same people back in and the nation will keep getting shafted.
GOOD N POSITIVE MOVE.PAKISTAN SHOULDN'T ISOLATE ITSELF IN INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY.
All those who are bashing Zardari or asking where is the Army Chief are living in denial.First,Pakistan is making money cause of this,second,some people have jobs cause of this.Third,Lets face reality,Pakistan being a failed state,depends on foreign aid,if you challenge international community then you are the one who will be screwed.
Correction to Mwaqar's post. Pakistan is not making money on this. Govt. officials and politicians are. The money does not trickle down to the ordinary people. I travel in and out of Pakistan quite frequently. I have not seen any improvement in people's lives or even the infrastructure. Foreign national (namely afghans) haave jobs because of this (since they control transportation). Maulana diesel makes money because of this. Pakistan definately is a failed state and it does depend on foreign aid but accepting more aid will only make us more dependent on foreign aid. We need to try to get out of this vicious cycle. We need to learn to live within our means. We need to do a self assessment to see what our strenghts are (besides begging) and what we can do to start taking steps towards financial independence. We need to promote local trade and industry instead of always looking for hand out.
Fine Kamran,I agree to a certain point,but is there anyone who can trash this begging bowel of Pakistan which has been floating around the globe for the last 65 years.
I don't know the answer to your question. I don't know who that person could be who would get us out of this mind set that we need to beg to survive. In my opinion, there needs to be a complete overhaul of our political parties and the whole political set up.That can only come from the masses. Presently we do not have a political leader who can mobilise people towards a revolution. It would take more than one generation to correct the system. We would need contunuity during that period. It may mean a total re-work of constitution to accomodate these necessary changes and we may have to bear some hardships but if that one "leader" would give Pakistan a vision that everyone can believe in then it can be achieved. Beauracracy would need to reformed and would need to feel secure in their jobs so they can do whats right and not whats being asked of them. Punishment would need to be swift and severe. Standars would have to be raised for performance and rewards need to meaningful. We would basically need to start all over and this time we need tomove toward industrialization instead of agriculture. It would automatically call for better education for more skilled workers. We have to get started somewhere though.
Mwaqar, you would do well to choose wiser words when coming on Pakistani websites. Pakistani leadership is a failed leadership, the state is far from failure.
The begging bowl belongs to Zardari, Gilani & PML leaders. We are working towards a better future for Pakistan but bringing these scums/ filth to account. Hanging is not an option but a certainty.
This was purely done so Zardari, Kiyani, a very corrupt/ schemeing military leader get their backs covered. Their team's days are numbered.
Kamran and SGY Khan, who runs foreign and defence policies of Pakistan and who weilds a veto power on such issues as NATO supply, Remand Davis, and War on terror. It is military generals who have been controling this policy since the days of Zia ul Haq. All political govt including Benazir, Nawaz Sharif, and the present one merely implement the decisions made by army top brass. Intelligence agencies and defence infrastructure have spread their influence so much that it wud be very difficult for public representatives to take matters in their hands for at least a decade more: and that also if democracy is not interfered by martial forces in the name of eliminating corruption. Corruption is a stunt which has been used continuously for the last 65 years to subvert democratic govt'; uptill 1999 by USA and PakArmy alliance, this is continuing even now. Politicians keep on pulling each others' legs to replace each other. Esatblishment is united, and even being a 1000 times more corrupt than politicians have painted themselves as clean.
In our constitution, president is the supreme commander of the armed forces. As such he has the final say on all military matters. The generals only control what the weak politicians allow them to control. There are laws governing army's involvement in any civilian matter wether its banking or housing schemes. Politicians make and pass these laws. "Public reps" do not represent public. Their loyalties are with the party leader. The use the public only to get votes. Once elected, they are slaves to their party leaders and cannot or will not make decisions based on what is best for the people they are supposed to represent. They spend huge sums of money to get elected. They make their money back by corruption. Hardly any of them know much about the workings of parliament. They have no clue why they are there. Their corruption hinders progress because true talent and skill does not get a chance. This leads to mediocre and low level skilled people getting promoted because they bribe their way into promotions. This woild be a very long discussion id you understand how corruption hurts and hinders progress. People involved in these activities atr doing so at the expense of national progress.
Reckless, president is the supreme commander of armed forces and as such he has the final authority ob all military matters. Laws governing army's involvement in civilian matters are made and passed by politicians. Corruption hinders national progress. This democratic govt. is more corrupt than any govt. ever in Pakistan. So called "public reps" do not represent the public. Their loyalties are with the party leader.
who says that pakistan makes money due to this,, if u hv a look at facts and figures u will see that Pakistan has lost billions of dollars during this so called war against terrorism ,, Pakistan industry has got irreparable losses, there is no sports activity,, common people has no security,, bomb blosts everywhere, . Alas v still believe i that v r making money at the cost of our own brothers
Mr. TahirNaz, who is responsible for restoration of NATO supply? Ifr you hv carefully kept track of all the news that have been coming in the media, you will know that it is defence establishment who have taken this decision to restore NATO supply and politicians are merely implementing the decision taken by army top brass in consultation with US military. The whole world knows it and this is also coming in foreign news media. The world knows who is taking this decision in Pakistan.
Khakis and and the NLC make big $$$ in NATO supply game. USA knows that if it stops the khakis's 'uncle sam gravy train' our resistance to the reopening NATO supply will fold. Now the bloody civilians gets the blame while khakis milk the uncle sam's cow. What acountry!
One million a day …
Eat, drink, visit UK, fly some F-16s', transfer money to Swiss Bank, enjoy load shedding, march, direct, dump bodies, take suo motto notice and shut up …
Pakistan demanded:
End to drone attacks (so we can feel like we are sovereign). US increased drones.
Apology for killing Pakistani soldiers. US introduced a bill to charge Pakistan $50 million for every US soldier killed.
$2 billion for back compensation. US agreed to $1 million a day with conditions attached.
Now lets analyze this:
Pakistan has the ability, but not the will or guts, to stop drones.
Pakistan really should be demanding an apology (and resignation) from kiayani for not being able to defend the very soldiers he commands. Its like going to war and if you lose, you ask the enemy to apologise for beating you. Makes no sense. Kiayani, not the US, should be apologising.
Money demands-you shoot for the stars and hope to land on the moon:)
Under the present political and military leadership, Pakistan is losing its worth by the day.
did it ever have any (for the last several decades)? worth, that is?
Whatever it did have, its worth less now. There was a time that there was a perception that Pakistan army was strong. There was a perception that PAF was one of the best. Perception may have been in Pakistani citizen's eyes but it was there. Today an army officer does not even feel safe out in the public. Times have definately changed for the worse.
Who will benifit from 1 million dollar a day!!!! Of course Zardari will steal this money. How long is Zardari going to steal from this poor country..
I am ashamed of being an Pakistan .All what happened NATO came killed our solders and we have agreed on money .What a shame .
This country is stupid.. and more stupid are its people who vote thugs like zardari and his peoples party (meaning: party on peoples blood n money).
$1 mn per day ?? Unbelievable……. thats the price for national pride?? AND SOLD….. LOOKS LIKE THE US WON A VERY CHEAP AUCTION.
is parcham kae neechay PAK FAUJ kae Jawan hum ….. $1million/day NATO deal.
Assemble Scavangers -> Kiyani , Army Generals and our beloved President Zardari 😀
PAK ARMY if one likes to call them PAK (clean), their MECCA is US and their Holy scripture is Almighty DOLLA
R and has been MONOTHEISTS for 60 years now 😀
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