A top US general said Tuesday he plans to visit Pakistan in 10 days for talks that he hopes will reopen the border to supply convoys for Nato troops in Afghanistan. The vital routes have been closed to trucks ferrying supplies to coalition forces since November, when US air strikes killed 24 Pakistani troops in a friendly fire incident that enraged Islamabad.
General James Mattis, who oversees US forces in the Middle East and Afghanistan as the head of Central Command, said that Nato had managed to keep supplies flowing to troops in Afghanistan by using routes on its northern border as well as deliveries by air. But he said the roads through Pakistan were needed to carry out a scheduled US troop drawdown, which calls for reducing American forces from nearly 90,000 to 68,000 by the end of September.
"However, (for) the withdrawal out of Afghanistan we do need the ground lines of communication through Pakistan. As far as the status of that discussion, I will fly to Pakistan here in about 10 days and we'll reopen the discussion," Mattis told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
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