US negotiates new supply routes to Afghanistan

Islamabad, Jan 21 (ANI): The United States has negotiated new supply lines for allied troops in Afghanistan through Central Asia after the Pakistan Taliban attacked and torched supplies passing through the Khyber Pass.

US CENTCOM chief General David Petraeus said: "Pakistan is the sole route through which NATO and American supplies pass at present. This has caused resentment in sections of Pakistani society and supply trucks passing through the northwest have been attacked and raided on several occasions."

After meeting with Pakistani leaders and top army officials, General Petraeus said the move came after a series of attacks on depots in and around Peshawar, where hundreds of vehicles used to ferry supplies to NATO and US forces in Afghanistan from the south were torched.

"It is very important, as we increase effort in Afghanistan, that we have multiple routes that go into the country," The Nation quoted Petraeus, as saying.

He noted traffic had been flowing "generally freely" through the Khyber Pass with a couple of "interruptions" in recent weeks.

"But we have sought additional logistical routes into Afghanistan from the north," he added.

Earlier, the US Commander held a series of meetings with President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani during his one-day trip to Islamabad.

General Petraeus, who had left for Afghanistan, had visited a number of Central Asian Republics before landing in Islamabad. (ANI)