Pakistan reopens supply route for Nato troops
Pakistan reopened the main supply route for Nato troops in Afghanistan today after blocking it for three days during a campaign against militants who have been attacking convoys.
The offensive which used artillery and helicopter gunships to destroy suspected militant hideouts will continue, but not close enough to the road through the famed Khyber Pass to disrupt traffic, said a spokesman.
Meanwhile also in the country’s troubled north-west, a US missile strike killed three militants close to the Afghan border, the latest in a series aimed at the al-Qaida and Taliban stronghold.
Strikes by US unmanned planes since last August have killed scores of suspected militants but angered Pakistani leaders, who say they undercut public support for their anti-terror campaign.
The attack in South Waziristan was the second in as many days in the region, a semi-autonomous district where the central government and its security forces have little control.
The US usually does not confirm such strikes, which are seen as a sign of frustration with Islamabad’s unwillingness or inability to crack down on militants in the region, believed to be a staging ground for attacks across the border in Afghanistan.
Nato convoys have also suffered a spate of attacks recently in Pakistan, along the road through Khyber.
Western forces in Afghanistan rely on the road for delivery of up to 75% of their fuel, food and other goods, which arrive in Pakistan via the port city of Karachi.
