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Fuel 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 July 4, 2012. Pakistan confirmed that it had decided to reopen vital NATO supply routes into Afghanistan. (Rizwan Tabassum/AFP/Getty Images)
NATO will be allowed to send supply trucks to troops in Afghanistan after Pakistan agreed to reopen routes that have been closed since last year in a sign that tensions between the U.S. and Islamabad might be easing.
“High-level officials of the U.S. government had stated that they will not apologize, yet they went against their stated position and apologized. We should at least appreciate that,” Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said on Wednesday, according to the Express Tribune.
Trucks are expected to move through Pakistan on Wednesday.
The U.S. apologized to Pakistan for the attack on a base in Salala, which it called an accident at the time, killing 24 Pakistani soldiers. After the incident, Pakistan closed down supply routes and relations between the two countries plunged to new lows.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday made the apology for the attack.
The move to open the supply lines was endorsed by high-ranking Pakistani officials and was made in light of parliamentary recommendations.
“They did the right thing to open [the route],” a truck driver in Karachi, who was not named, told Radio Free Europe. “Now they should ensure its safety, and only the army can ensure the safety. Neither the police nor the security [forces] can do that.”
NATO was forced to rely on a longer and more expensive route into northern Afghanistan through Russia and Central Asia after Pakistan instated the blockade last year.
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