NATO trucks from Pakistan resume trek

Chaman, Pakistan — The first trucks supplying NATO troops in Afghanistan crossed the border from Pakistan on Thursday after Islamabad ended a seven-month blockade.

Pakistan closed overland routes for NATO convoys into its war-torn neighbor in fury after a botched US air raid in November killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at a border post, plunging ties between the “war on terror” allies to a new low.

Following a bitter seven-month standoff, Islamabad agreed to reopen the routes on Tuesday after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said sorry for the air strike deaths.

Three trucks loaded with mineral water were cleared to enter Afghanistan from the Chaman border post in Pakistan’s remote province of Balochistan Thursday, Chaman district Customs official Abdul Razaq Imran told AFP.

“Three NATO containers parked in customs house Chaman for the last seven months have crossed into Afghanistan from the Chaman border,” he said.

“We cleared their documents and allowed them to cross the border after we received a letter from the Federal Board of Revenue about the restoration of the NATO supply.”

Malik Hukam Dad, an official from Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) at Chaman, confirmed three trucks had been cleared and two had already crossed the border. — AP