NATO War Supplies Continue Route Through Pakistani Airspace

Islamabad's closure of supply routes has essentially been side-stepped by Washington

NATO continues to supply occupation forces in Afghanistan through Pakistani airspace, despite Islamabad’s closure of supply routes, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter said on Thursday.

In November, U.S. airstrikes destroyed a Pakistani outpost killing 24 Pakistani soldiers. Following that, the government in Islamabad closed NATO’s ground supply routes in southeastern Pakistan in a punitive move to impede America’s ability to provide for the troops occupying neighboring Afghanistan.

Munter also said on Thursday that there should to be a mechanism in place to stop a future mistake like the one that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, reiterating that the attack was not pre-planned and was unintentional.

But the continued use of Pakistani territory, in contravention of the spirit of Islamabad’s initial closure of the supply routes, is exactly the kind of disrespect for Pakistani sovereignty that Islamabad blames the November attack on and has been so angry about in the past.

Supply routes are not the only issue Pakistan has expressed anger about. They also object, at least publicly, to America’s drone war in the northwest frontier provinces, arguing it violates their sovereignty. The Obama administration has harmed diplomatic relations with Pakistan considerably since taking office, which has helped the war in Afghanistan remain a stalemate.

Author: John Glaser

John Glaser writes for Antiwar.com.