Pakistan to reopen NATO supply routes to Afghanistan

Pakistan looks set to reopen two key NATO

supply routes to Afghanistan, following the unanimous approval last week of a proposal in Parliament for new bilateral relations with the United States.
The decision was made at a meeting of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. The meeting was attended by army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, other service chiefs, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and key federal ministers.
In his address at the meeting, Gilani said Pakistan’s ‘fundamental policy parameters’ would include a ‘roadmap for re-engagement with the United States’ and ‘negotiation of new terms and conditions for resumption of the Ground Lines of Communication’ and joint counter-terrorism cooperation.
Pakistan’s Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) also approved a roadmap, paving the way for normalisation of bilateral relations between Pakistan and the US.
The parliament opposed supply of arms to NATO troops through Pakistani air space or land route and called for an immediate cessation of American drone strikes on Pakistani soil.
Pakistan processed about 200 to 250 NATO containers daily before the two routes were closed in response to deteriorating ties with the US. NATO has alternative routes by airlift and through Central Asia, though the costs are considerably higher.
However NATO has already been using Pakistan’s airspace for supplies to its troops in Afghanistan, which Pakistan said it had allowed on humanitarian grounds in February as a first trust-building measure.