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Mujeeb Ahmed / NBC News
Trucks at a border checkpoint in Chaman, Pakistan, carry supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan on Thursday, July 5, 2012.
CHAMAN, Pakistan - A pair of trucks carrying NATO supplies crossed into Afghanistan on Thursday, Pakistani customs officials said, the first time in more than seven months that Pakistan has allowed Western nations to use its roads to supply troops in Afghanistan.
Customs officials said the container trucks passed through the Chaman border crossing into southern Afghanistan, a milestone following a deal this week with the United States ending the impasse triggered by the killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers by U.S. aircraft last November.
"We received orders yesterday to allow NATO supply trucks through, but security officials hadn't received their instructions," said Imran Raza, a customs official.
Pakistan lets trucks roll after Clinton apologizes
"They received their orders today, and now two trucks have crossed the border into Afghanistan."
The resumption of NATO transit into Afghanistan came two days after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, yielding to Pakistani demands, told Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar the United States was sorry for the deaths last November.
Arshad Arbab / EPA
A man reads about Pakistan's agreement to reopen NATO supply at a newspaper stall in Peshawar on Wednesday.
In response to the killing of the soldiers in a border post, a furious Islamabad shut the supply routes.
For months, the Obama administration refused Pakistani demands to offer an apology for what NATO said was a regrettable accident.
Pakistan releases 1st pics of attacked border posts
The closure forced NATO countries to bring supplies into landlocked Afghanistan through an alternate route to the north, a cumbersome process that cost 2 1/2 times as much as shipping them to and then across Pakistan.
Thousands of waiting trucks
In the port city of Karachi, drivers were preparing for the trip. Thousands of trucks and tankers have been stuck at ports in Karachi waiting for the transit ban to be lifted.
"Today almost after eight months NATO supply has been started. I am taking NATO cargo to Peshawar, where this cargo will be shifted to trailers taking the same to Kabul," said driver Javed Iqbal.
Fuel tankers sit idle in Pakistan during dispute with US
The chairman of Port Qasim, Mohammad Shafi, said Thursday that more than 2,500 NATO containers and vehicles have been held at the facility since the blockade began.
Authorities in Islamabad have announced that NATO may resume transporting military supplies into Afghanistan from Pakistan. NBC's Amna Nawaz has more on the story.
Getting them back on the road will take time, Shafi said, because of paperwork and customs clearance procedures.
"Once we do that, we will be able to let the supplies leave for Afghanistan," he said.
The journey is a perilous one, as the Taliban and other militant groups have threatened to attack supply vehicles in Pakistani territory. Before the closure, hundreds of supply trucks, which travel in convoys, were targeted in different areas of the country.
US drone kills 8 suspected militants in Pakistan
U.S. officials had expected the first trucks carrying NATO supplies to begin crossing into Afghanistan on Wednesday, but bureaucratic delays held that up.
The reopening could save the U.S. hundreds of millions of dollars, since Pakistan's blockade forced Washington to rely more heavily on a longer, costlier route that leads into Afghanistan through Central Asia. Pakistan is also expected to gain financially, since the U.S. intends to free up $1.1 billion in military aid that has been frozen for the past year.
The routes, which supply U.S. troops with everything they need to survive, were reopened after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Pakistan 'We are sorry for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military." NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.
But the deal carries risks for both governments.
Pakistan is facing domestic backlash, given rampant anti-American sentiment in the country and the government's failure to force the U.S. to stop drone strikes targeting militants and accede to other demands made by parliament.
President Barack Obama, in the midst of a re-election battle, faces criticism from Republicans who are angry his administration apologized to a country allegedly giving safe haven to militants attacking American troops in Afghanistan.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
Screw the Paki's ! Let's get out of Afghanistan, then we won't have to spend a dime to transport stuff through their third world country at $5,000 a truck load extortion fee... We could then cut off all aid to Pakistan and save billions more
There is no fee, you're talking for fun and until Iran's threat subsides Afghanistan is a necessary back door. It's better to play nice, and deal with one problem at a time, than kick all the toys out of the box over frustration.
What the Pakkis wanted was the one billion dollars in cash which they will quickly siphon off into personal accounts. The demand for an apology was just a worthless smokescreen - as worthless as any agreement with Pakistan.
A high percentage of NATO supplies were stolen in transit. These stolen materials were sold in stores!
Now back to Paki stealing of the business supplies and the monies given as aid!
Pakistan isn't a third world country, its a nuclear capable, rapidly developing, mostly urban country.
Thank you our Israeli for your opinion but Iran is not a threat to us as we have thousands of nukes and 12 carrier task forces. Get our stuff, our troop and get out of there. It is time to start nation building here in the USA. The one problem we have you see is, there is no more money, do you understand that????? Israel has about 50 nukes, Iran is not doing anything, just trying to convince their people that they are about to be attacked so the people don't look at their own miserable lives and turn against the govt.
I'm sure someone knows that answer to this question. During the 7 months that Pakistan blocked NATO trucks from re-supplying our troops in Afghanistan, thus putting our soldiers at greater risk, did the Obama administration withhold the $multi-billion dollar aid package to Pakistan?
Pakis are well known for being ungrateful and backstabbers.
It is simply stupid to reopen NATO supplies route and get blackmailed at every step! For some old habits die hard!
In Afghanistan, Pakis have backstabbed the US and NATO forces big time. Half of NATO forces deaths are due to ungrateful and backstabbing Pakis.
When the NATO forces were entering Kandahar in 2001, Pakis airlifted key al-Qaida, Taliban, ISI and others militants by back door from Kandahar.
This includes Mullah Omar, Osama and many including Paki Haqqani militant network leaders.
Hope people remember about Pakis sheltering Osama.
Either carpet bomb the Paki militant areas or just get out of Afghanistan right away!
Does anyone think for one minute that all those containers are for combat troops?
Anything look odd about those humvees? Looks like one is missing an engine and the blue covering was ripped apart...
Those blue tarps deteriorate rapidly in sunlight exposure. As for the engine who knows where that went. Maybe it was used in another broken down humvee?
i would be curious if the "apology" also include caving in on the
extortionfees of up to $5000 per vehicle as a condition to resume allowing transportation through.You mean a capitalist man-made disaster. If the plants were under the control of the plant workers and the community surrounding them the safety standards just might reduce the "accidents", but as long as profit is the deciding factor...well, draw your own conclusions.
Might as well load tractor trailers filled with US taxpayer cash to drive into their country and dump it into a big burn pit
On the other hand, if those flatbeds had been in Mexico for 7 months would there even be flatbeds left?
It is supposed to save the US Hundreds of Millions of dollars .
I have a more simple idea.
Leave now.
We, do need our supplies. To bad, we couldn't find another rout, to get our supplies we need. So, Hillary, gets all the dirty jobs. I don't know what price we had to pay, along with an apology. I am sure, the Packis, wanted something.
Humility is always a good human trait to practice. The cost of not being humble, as the GOP hawks are, and provoke or threaten to get what we want or our troops need is part of why they hate US so much. Peace is earned, even in the Muslim World, by negotiation and sincerity. This move is critical to supplying the effort in Afghanistan and keeping a footprint near Iran. So which base in Pakistan or Afghanistan would Iran hit after Israel were to hit them? Impossible to clearly point one much less several out, but omnipresence is a great deterrent.
Appealing to Islam to calm down and not think of US as a threat, because we are NOT a threat, is the best sincere direction we can go. The crazy Taliban and Al-khi-da folks will draw negative attention with their violence, arrogance, and attacks on innocents in any population, if the US GOP hawks don't make US look worse.
I wish they each had an M.O.A.B. that detonates as soon as the drivers and troops are a safe distance away.
Hillary sucks for saying sorry to those Muslim bastards.
Alternate routes were being used for seven months!
Hillary and some are used to getting regular kicks and then dance. She was missing Pakis.
When troops are being gradually withdrawn, where was the hurry to reopen the supply route?
Back to the Paki business: stolen supplies, bombings of supplies and blackmails on the supply routes!
Hillarys will be back to their business of dancing on them, Syria, Iran or somewhere like China!
We aren't very good at nation building. We won in Afghanistan. Now, lets get the hell out. Pakistan has proven not to be our ally. There should be a price for that. No more green cards for them. Shut down our Embassy. No more aid. No more loans. No more assistance. Nothing.
I can only imagine how many roadside bombs were planted along that route during the past months. We'll soon find out.
What a dumb foreign policies US has!
Pakis and Saudis backstab whenever it is convenient. Still they do business with the ungrateful Islamic religious Nazis and get hurt more and more!
Time to roll up the tent and get the hell out. Pakis hid Bin Laden and now he's dead. Let India nuke them.... We will be fighting in the Gulf soon anyway. Iran is a big threat. Anyone who has their head in the sand will soon change the tune. Israel knows that Iran means it when they said they will wipe Israel off the face of the map. its GO time.
Who came out ahead in this deal? yup not us. America can no longer afford to "BUY" the friendship of other countries.
Wow, so basically the only thing keeping the U.S. from moving supplies through Pakistan ended up being an apology? We could have apologized 7 months ago, and this whole situation might have been avoided. I'm not on Pakistan's side at all, but if you cause someone harm by ACCIDENT, an apology is not too much to ask.
You are correct. That apology will save the lives of a lot of our troops. How telling that the reich wingers are so upset about it.
Seems teh reporter forgot to include the one million dollars a day we pay to use the road leading into Afgahnistan that we pay on top of the per truck charge. Leave now stop all aid and let them eat dirt. We have roads in this country that need repair as well as greater needs of this country for the money being pissed away over there. GET OUT NOW
Pakistan isn't a third world country, its a nuclear capable country with many urban areas.