ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the United States signed a deal regulating the shipment of American troop supplies to and from Afghanistan yesterday, prompting Washington to agree to release over $1 billion in frozen military aid.
The developments represent the formal end to a crisis between the two countries that started in November when Pakistan closed its border to supplies meant for US and other NATO troops in Afghanistan in retaliation for American airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
Pakistan reopened the route in early July after the US apologized for the deaths, which it said were an accident, but it took several more weeks for the two sides to finalize the new agreement.
The deal codifies a largely informal arrangement that has allowed the international coalition to truck supplies through Pakistan over the past decade. Pakistan pushed for a written pact during months of negotiations, and it is expected to be extended to other NATO countries.
US Charge d'Affaires Richard Hoagland, who signed the agreement for the US, called it a "concrete very positive step."
"Of course it's clear to our political leadership in both capitals ... that we have a number of other issues to work on," said Hoagland at the signing ceremony at the Pakistani Ministry of Defense in Rawalpindi.
The dispute over the supply route brought the already troubled US-Pakistan relationship close to the breaking point, complicating American efforts to wrap up the war in Afghanistan. Pakistan is seen as key to getting the Taleban back to reconciliation talks aimed at ending the 11-year Afghan war.
The route through Pakistan will be vital to the scheduled withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in 2014, one of the reasons the US finally agreed to Islamabad's demand that it apologize for the deaths of the Pakistani soldiers. The US had to compensate for the temporary closure by using a longer route into Afghanistan through Central Asia that cost an additional $100 million per month.
