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Pakistani cabinet approves restoration of NATO supplies

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, July 5, IRNA -- Pakistan Federal Cabinet on Wednesday endorsed the decision of reopening of NATO supply routes after the US apologized for killing 24 Pakistani soldiers in a NATO airstrike in November, officials said.

The Defense Committee of the Cabinet (DCC), Pakistan’s highest forum of civilian and military leaders, Tuesday night decided to unblock NATO supply line after a seven month suspension.

The DCC took the decision after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said ‘sorry’ for the killing of Pakistani soldiers.

“The Cabinet endorsed the decision of DCC to reopen of NATO supply route and also appreciated the deliberations of the participants of DCC in this regard,” an official statement said.

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf presided over the cabinet meeting which said that reopening of the ‘Ground Lines of Communication’ through Pakistani territory to and from Afghanistan will facilitate the transition and the subsequent transformation process in that country.

Official sources said that the government has conveyed the decision to the authorities at the Karachi port and custom houses along the border points in the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southwestern Balochistan provinces.

NATO trucks and oil containers have moved to Karachi to fetch NATO supplies, the sources said.

The cabinet also approved the DCC decision that no lethal cargo will go into Afghanistan except equipment for Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), essential for ensuring peace and stability in Afghanistan.

The Foreign Minister briefed the cabinet on recent discussions with senior US officials on the resetting of the Pakistan-US relationship in line with the Parliamentary recommendations.

The cabinet was informed that it was in Pakistan’s interest to support the transition and the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan as NATO/ISAF forces drawdown by 2014.

The cabinet was told that, in view of our larger objective of peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region and also Islamabad’s cooperative relations with the 50 member states of NATO/ISAF, Pakistan wanted to facilitate the transition process and help enable Afghanistan’s national institutions to exercise full sovereignty over their country.

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Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 80215217