ISLAMABAD —
Pakistani officials say the U.S.-led NATO military coalition in Afghanistanhas offered to import vital supplies through the southwestern port ofGwadar, calling it a much shorter and economically viable route intolandlocked Afghanistan.
The federal minister for maritime affairs, Hasil Bizenjo, says NATOrepresentatives proposed the idea at a recent meeting he convened withlocal and international business leaders.
“They (NATO) are very interested and we are working on it,” Bizenjo toldVOA in an interview.
The coalition of about 16,000 troops, known as Resolute Support, mostlyconsists of Americans advising and assisting Afghan forces in their battleagainst the Taliban and other militant groups.
The military mission is dependent on ground lines of communication and airlines of communication, known as GLOC and ALOC, through Pakistan forreceiving supplies.
Currently, NATO supplies are shipped through the southern Pakistani port ofKarachi, where they then are placed on trucks and transported on aweek-long journey to neighboring Afghanistan via the northwestern Torkhamborder crossing.
“NATO people told us it would be extremely convenient for them in terms ofquick transportation of supplies from Gwadar directly to Kandahar. They arevery interested and we are working on it,” Bizenjo told VOA in an interview.[image: FILE – A Pakistan soldier stands guard while a loaded Chinese shipprepares to depart Gwadar port, about 700 kilometers (435 miles) west ofKarachi. Pakistan, Nov. 13, 2016.]FILE – A Pakistan soldier stands guard while a loaded Chinese ship preparesto depart Gwadar port, about 700 kilometers (435 miles) west of Karachi.Pakistan, Nov. 13, 2016.
The Chinese-built, Arabian Sea port of Gwadar is in the southwesternBaluchistan province adjoining Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, which hostsone of the five U.S. military bases in the war-shattered country.
Gwadar port is connected to the Chaman border crossing with Kandaharthrough a newly constructed highway, enabling truck convoys to reachAfghanistan in fewer than 24 hours.
Pakistani minister Bizenjo said companies dealing in Afghan transit tradealso want their cargo to be shipped completely through Gwadar.
“Another meeting with Pakistani business and NATO representatives andAfghan transit trade dealers has also been scheduled to further thediscussions, Bizenjo said, without saying when.
Pakistan earned the status of non-NATO ally for allowing U.S.-ledinternational forces to use the GLOC and ALOC supply lines to invadeAfghanistan in 2001 and oust the Taliban from power for harboring al-Qaidaleaders. In return, Islamabad received U.S. security assistance andcivilian aid.
The proposal to redirect U.S. and NATO military cargo from Karachi toGwadar comes as Pakistan’s traditionally rollercoaster relations with theUnited States suffer fresh setbacks.
It started with a New Year’s Day tweet by U.S. President Donald Trump inwhich he accused Islamabad of providing havens to terrorists fighting inAfghanistan despite receiving over $33 billion in aid in the last 15 years.Subsequently, the Trump administration suspended security assistance toPakistan until it takes “concrete” steps against militant hideouts on itssoil.
Islamabad promptly rejected Trump’s comments as “unwarranted” and“completely incomprehensible,” saying it was being scapegoated for U.S.failures in Afghanistan.
Officials also maintain that Pakistan has received around $14 billion, notas aid, but as reimbursement for money spent on deploying security forceson the Afghan border and conducting counterterrorism operations in supportof the U.S.-led mission. They say Washington still owes Islamabad around $9billion.
The tensions have led to negative public statements coming from both sides;but, Pakistani and U.S. officials have both dismissed the widespreadimpression that Trump’s Twitter comments pushed the relationship to thebrink of collapse and that Islamabad intended to shut down the NATO supplylines.
Pakistan blocked the ground lines of communication for months after a 2011attack by the NATO air force accidentally hit two Pakistani border posts,killing more than two dozen Pakistani soldiers. The lines were restoredonly after the U.S. military formally apologized for the incident.
A U.S. government source tells VOA a “robust ongoing” bilateral dialogue ison track between the two countries, particularly their militaries. A U.S.military delegation was in Islamabad on Monday. Late last week, Pakistan’sarmy chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, had a phone conversation withGeneral Joseph Votel, the CENTCOM commander.
Army spokesman Major-General Asif Ghafoor told VOA the contact helpedremove any “apprehensions” about future cooperation. “Cooperation and notcoercion is the way forward,” Ghafoor said. – VOA