PESHAWAR: Pakistan reopened a key border crossing to NATO supply convoys heading into Afghanistan on Sunday, ending an 11-day blockade imposed after a US helicopter strike killed two Pakistani soldiers.
The closing of the Torkham crossing to NATO vehicles stranded many fuel tankers at parking lots and on highways where they were vulnerable to attacks. More than 150 trucks were destroyed and some drivers and police were wounded in the near-daily attacks.
The reopening of the northwest crossing came four days after the US apologized for the Sept. 30 helicopter attack, saying the pilots mistook the soldiers for insurgents being pursuing across the border from Afghanistan.
"I am very happy that our difficult days have finally ended and we are through now," driver Khan Rehman told The Associated Press minutes before he drove the first truck into Afghanistan just after noon. "I am thankful to the government of Pakistan for ending our hardship."
By early afternoon, around 10 vehicles had crossed into Afghanistan through Torkham and authorities were working to clear hundreds that had been stranded for days, said customs official Ataur Rehman.
"We have cleared a bunch of oil tankers and containers after customs formalities, and the first few vehicles have already crossed the border," said Rehman.
Pakistan is a key supply route for fuel, military vehicles, spare parts, clothing and other non-lethal supplies for foreign troops in landlocked Afghanistan — although NATO has reduced its reliance on the country by using Central Asian routes to the north. NATO now ships about 40 percent of its non-lethal supplies through Pakistan, down from 80 percent at its peak.
NATO officials have said the Torkham closure did not affect its ability to keep troops supplied because hundreds of trucks still crossed into Afghanistan every day through Central Asia and one border crossing in Pakistan’s southwest that remained open.
But the blockade raised tensions with Pakistan, with which Washington has a close but often troubled alliance. The US accuses Pakistan of being unwilling to go after Afghan Taliban insurgents in its territory with whom it has strong historical ties and who generally focus their attacks on Western troops rather than Pakistani targets.
The US has responded to Pakistan’s position by dramatically increasing the number of CIA drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal belt, including two Sunday in North Waziristan that killed eight people — the ninth and tenth missile strikes this month.
In the first attack, a drone fired two missiles at a pair of cars in an Afghan refugee camp in the Spin Wam area, killing six people, said Pakistani intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Minutes later, a drone killed two people near the bank of a river located just outside the refugee camp, the officials said.
The identities of the people killed were not known, but the area where the strikes occurred is dominated by a militant group led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur that regularly attacks NATO troops in Afghanistan.
In September, the US is believed to have launched at least 21 missile strikes, nearly double the previously monthly record.
The US rarely acknowledges the covert missile strike program, but officials have said privately that they have killed several senior Taliban and Al-Qaeda commanders. Pakistan officially opposes the program, but is believed to secretly support it. –Rasool Dawar contributed to this report.
