U.S. apologizes to Pakistan; Afghan supply lines reopen

For the past seven months, the crucial supply routes from Pakistan to Afghanistan have been closed to the U.S. and its allies, forcing them to send goods via the more expensive northern roads.

While it has cost the U.S. treasury $700 million — a pittance compared with the billions spent in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — a lengthy closure would have had a devastating effect on the war in Afghanistan.

It certainly would have complicated the withdrawal of American troops by the 2014 deadline established by the Obama administration.

The end of the standoff is good for both countries. U.S. and NATO troops will be able to continue their military campaign against the Islamic extremists who want to return Afghanistan to Taliban rule, and Pakistan can rest assured that Congress will not make good its threat to withhold millions of dollars in aid. In 2009, President Obama signed a measure passed by Congress that will funnel $7.5 billion to Pakistan from 2010 to 2014.

Earlier this year, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to cut $33 million from the $1 billion-plus America’s chief ally in the war on global terrorism is expected to receive in fiscal 2013.

The committee’s action was meant to deliver a message to Islamabad that the American people have grown weary of Pakistan taking actions that undermine what the U.S. and NATO are trying to achieve in that part of the world. This country is paying a high price for the war on global terrorism, and taxpayers are questioning whether such initiatives are worth the cost in lives and treasury.

The decision by Pakistan to reopen the supply routes will go a long way toward rebuilding the relationship. While it is true that the decision was made only after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued an apology to Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar for the November killing of 24 Pakistani troops in a NATO air strike, the outcome is what’s most important.

Indeed, even though Pakistan had wanted NATO to directly pay it transit fees for using the supply routes — such fees were never paid — the old system of compensation will remain in effect.

Pakistan charges companies $250 per truck for transit and the U.S. accounts for those fees in its contracts with those companies. Thus, it pays indirectly.

“This is a tangible demonstration of Pakistan’s support for a secure, peaceful, and prosperous Afghanistan and our shared objectives in the region,” Clinton said. She called the agreement “critically important to men and women who are fighting terrorism and extremism in Afghanistan.”

Right direction

There are other issues that remain to be resolved, but the reopening of the supply routes is a giant step in the right direction.

The Pakistanis are still upset over the U.S. Navy SEALS’ killing of Osama bin Laden under the noses of military and the intelligence service. Bin Laden had been living for six years in Abbottabad in the heart of Pakistan near a military facility. President Obama ordered the SEALS to go after bin Laden without telling the Pakistanis.

While tensions will continue to exist, neither country should lose sight of what’s important: the destruction of terrorist organizations.