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May
16
Written by:
Diana West
Wednesday, May 16, 2012 5:09 AM
Pakistan agrees to re-open supply roads to NATO forces in Afghanistan. But there's a price.
Christian Science Monitor reports:
The accord, which the Pakistani government announced late Tuesday, would revive the transport of vital supplies of food and equipment from Pakistani ports overland to land-locked Afghanistan.
In return, the US-led coalition will pay Pakistan a still-to-be-fixed fee of $1,500 to $1,800 for each truck carrying supplies, a tab that officials familiar with negotiations estimated would run nearly $1 million a day. ...
Pakistan closed the land route to supplies headed to the coalition after American aircraft mistakenly attacked two Pakistani border outposts Nov. 26, killing 24 Pakistani soldiers. Since then, supplies for coalition forces in Afghanistan have passed through one of two routes that stretch from Afghanistan through central Asia and Siberia to Georgia on the Black Sea. One of the routes is nearly 6,000 miles long. The Pakistan route is less than 500 miles.
Officials in Washington said they didn’t know how much of the new cost the United States would bear. As the United States contributes more than two-thirds of the 130,000-strong international force, which operates under the command of NATO, it’s expected that Washington will pay most of the new fee.
Ya think? Speaking of paying most of new fees...
Headline from The Guardian:
"Afghanistan hopeful of extra US cash to fund security"
"Officials believe Washington will pay more on top of lion's share of expected $4.1bn annual budget after foreign troops leave"
Stupid lion.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan, which ranks 180/183 among all nations in corruption (according to Transparency International), is pushing to control the money.
Who's more corrupt? Only Myanmar (181), North Korea (182), and Somalia (183).
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