Nato strikes exit deal with Central Asian states

By: Agencies | June 05, 2012

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/national/05-Jun-2012/nato-strikes-exit-deal-with-central-asian-states

BRUSSELS  - Nato has struck a deal with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to remove equipment through their territories as it winds down the Afghan operation, Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Monday.

The agreements with Central Asian nations will allow Nato to evacuate vehicles and other military equipment from Afghanistan completely bypassing Pakistan, which once provided the main supply route for coalition forces.

The announcement on Monday appears to indicate that Washington and the allies are now preparing for the possibility that the supply link through Pakistan, said to be about six times cheaper than its northern alternative, may not be reopened at all.

It is also likely to put pressure on Pakistan to ease its negotiating stance, which has been stuck in part on how much money the US and Nato should pay to transport the trucks through Pakistani territory.

“We reached agreement on reverse transit from Afghanistan with three Central Asian partners: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan,” Rasmussen said at a news conference.

“These agreements will give us a range of new options and the robust and flexible transport network we need,” he added, without offering more detail on the accords. Rasmussen said there was no agreement with Pakistan to restore the supply route. “Talks are ongoing with Pakistan regarding the resumption of the route.”

“I still hope that a solution can be found in the very near future,” Rasmussen said. He said the new deals would make “the use of the Russian transit arrangements even more effective.”

Transit routes for the withdrawal are proving a major headache for the US-led Isaf operation in Afghanistan, with massive ammounts of materiel dispatched in the decade-long war to be pulled out by the end-2014 deadline from a country ringed by high mountain passes.

The Brussels-headquartered alliance is also discussing with Russia the possibility of using Vostochny Airport near Ulyanovsk, 900 kilometres east of Moscow, as a transit centre for non-lethal equipment from Afghanistan.

Washington meanwhile continues to press Pakistan to reopen routes blocked six months ago in retaliation for the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers killed by US strikes on a border post.

Since Nato already has an agreement with Russia, the deal will allow it to ship tens of thousands of vehicles, containers and other items through the overland route when the evacuation picks up pace later this year.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan and Nato have agreed to develop a plan for a new international peacekeeping mission in the country after 2014 when Afghan forces take full control of the security, Rasmussen said.

The Nato-led mission will offer training and other assistance to Afghan security forces, he said, adding that the alliance would provide funding for the mission at an estimated $4.1 billion a year.

“On Afghanistan, we set out a clear path from now until 2014 and beyond. And we sent out a clear signal to the Afghan people and the region that we will stay committed,” he said.After the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) troops are withdrawn from Afghanistan, security in the country would be enforced by over 300,000 Afghan soldiers and police, he added