Pakistan indicated Sunday that its closure of a key NATO supply route into Afghanistan, shut down after a NATO helicopter attack killed three Pakistani soldiers, is a short-term measure.
Pakistan closed the Torkham border crossing in the country's northwest on Thursday in an apparent protest of the NATO helicopter attack on the frontier. It was the third such incursion into Pakistan in less than a week.
Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said, however, that the route had been closed because of public reaction in the area to the NATO strikes, and that it would be reopened once things normalize.
"The supply has been suspended because of security reasons and it will be resumed as soon as these reasons are addressed," he told The Associated Press. He did not elaborate on when the route might be reopened.
The Torkham border crossing along the fabled Khyber Pass is used to bring fuel, military vehicles, spare parts, clothing and other non-lethal supplies for foreign troops in Afghanistan. Pakistan's other main route into landlocked Afghanistan, in Chaman in the southeast, has remained open.
By: Brant
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