Pakistan reopens NATO main supply route to Kabul

Islamabad,Jan.3 (ANI): Pakistan has reopened the main supply route for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan after blocking it for three days during an operation against militants blamed for repeated attacks on convoys in the Khyber Pass.

News reports said residents in the towns of Landi Kotal and Jamrud,which located along the route, confirmed the movement of NATO supply convoys toward the Afghan border and the Afghan capital of Kabul.

CNN quoted Rahat Ullah, a political official in Jamrud, the area's main town, as saying the road would be open daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., after which a curfew would allow the military to continue the operation against militants.

Pakistan launched the operation Tuesday after attacks on NATO supply trucks and several girls' schools in the Khyber region.

So far, more than 200 people, most of them Taliban members and "criminals," have been arrested in the Khyber Agency.

The Khyber Pass, an ancient, three-mile pass which links Pakistan to Afghanistan through the Hindu Kush mountain range, has traditionally been a key route into Afghanistan.

The route's closure had forced NATO and U.S. forces to use air and other land routes to deliver supplies to troops in Afghanistan.(ANI +inputs)