Pakistan opens Nato routes after US apology
WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that Pakistan was reopening its supply lines into Afghanistan, after the US belatedly issued an apology for the November killing of 24 Pakistani troops in a Nato airstrike.
Clinton expressed her condolences for the deaths in a telephone conversation with Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar.
The incident badly damaged already strained relations between the two countries and forced the US and its allies to send supplies via costlier northern routes into Afghanistan.
”We are sorry for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military,” Clinton said in a statement, recounting her discussion with Khar. ”I offered our sincere condolences to the families of the Pakistani soldiers who lost their lives. Foreign Minister Khar and I acknowledged the mistakes that resulted in the loss of Pakistani military lives,” she added.
It is
the first time any US official has formally apologized for the deaths, a step hotly debated within the Obama administration and one demanded by Pakistan while its supply routes remained closed for seven months.
It came as key Pakistani civilian and military leaders were meeting on Tuesday evening in Islamabad to discuss whether to reopen Nato supply routes.
Clinton said a decision had been reached. ”I am pleased that Foreign Minister Khar has informed me that the ground supply lines into Afghanistan are opening,” Clinton said.
She said Pakistan won’t charge any transit fee, the subject of an earlier negotiation, and that the reopening would help the US draw down its war in Afghanistan ”at a much lower cost.”
”This is a tangible demonstration of Pakistan’s support for a secure, peaceful, and prosperous Afghanistan and our shared objectives in the region,” she said, calling the agreement ”critically important to the men and women who are fighting terrorism and extremism in Afghanistan.”
Dawn Source
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US commander welcomes Pakistan’s reopening of Nato supplies
KABUL: The US commander of Nato troops fighting the Taliban on Tuesday welcomed Pakistan’s decision to reopen Nato supply lines into Afghanistan after a seven-month blockade.
General John Allen made the remarks in a statement released in Kabul that also paid tribute to the “sacrifices” made by Pakistani, as well as Afghan and Nato troops in the war. 
The statement made no mention of an apology.
Pakistan closed its Afghan border crossings to Nato convoys on November 26 after botched US air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that Pakistan was re-opening the border to Nato supplies and said the United States was “sorry” for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military.
Allen, who held talks in Islamabad twice in the last six days, said the decision was “a demonstration of Pakistan’s desire to help secure a brighter future for both Afghanistan and the region at large”.
“I look forward to future opportunities to work together toward our common goals, by taking coordinated action against terrorists,” he said.
Afghans and Americans blame Pakistan for not doing more to eliminate havens on its soil, which are used as launch pads for attacks across the border.
Last month, Allen blamed the Pakistan-based Haqqani network for a siege on a lakeside hotel in Kabul that killed 18 people.
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has also warned that Washington was running out of patience with Pakistan over militant havens.
