Pakistan halts Nato supplies to Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD – Pakistani security forces blocked one of two vital supply routes for US and NATO troops in Afghanistan in Khyber Agency as a security measure to prevent attacks from pro-Taliban elements in the area.
“The closure was carried out as a security measure to ensure that Taliban in retaliation for the helicopters attack did not attack NATO vehicles,” military sources requesting anonymity informed TheNation.
They said that about 100 NATO vehicles were now waiting to cross the border into Afghanistan through the Torkhum border crossing linking eastern Afghanistan. Chaman in Balochistan is another major NATO supply line that remained opened till filing of this report.
AFP adds: Pakistan shut down the main land route for NATO supplies into Afghanistan Thursday after officials accused NATO of killing Pakistani troops in the fourth cross-border attack this week.
“We have suspended NATO supply trucks for the time being due to security reasons,” an official in Frontier Corps paramilitary unit told AFP in Peshawar on condition of anonymity.
Two officials at the Torkham border crossing and a US diplomat confirmed that NATO convoys were not being allowed to cross.
Khyber is on the main NATO supply route into Afghanistan, where more than 152,000 US and NATO forces are fighting a nine-year Taliban insurgency.