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Saturday 26 May RNW - NEWS AND ANALYSIS FROM THE NETHERLANDS IN 10 LANGUAGES, WORLDWIDE 24/7 ON RADIO, TV AND ONLINE

Pakistan signals imminent end to NATO blockade

Published on 2 February 2012 - 9:17am
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Pakistan signalled on Thursday that it could shortly end a more than two-month blockade on NATO supplies entering Afghanistan for foreign forces.

Islamabad shut the border and ordered a review of its US alliance after air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on November 26, in what NATO and the US military later blamed on a series of mistakes by both sides.

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told reporters that parliament, tasked with adopting the review, would "hopefully" meet next week.

"I cannot pre-empt what the parliament is going to decide but I would assume that should not be so much of a problem," she said when asked if the recommendations would include re-opening the border.

Responding as to when parliament would pass the review, she said: "I'm going to hopefully ensure and push it very hard that it is no later than within a week... first half of February is probable."

Islamabad rejects any blame for the November strikes, which brought its relationship with the United States and NATO to an all-time low.

When the route eventually re-opens, it is widely expected to tax NATO convoys carrying supplies shipped to its port in Karachi and trucked through its territory to landlocked Afghanistan.

The United States has made increasing use of alternative routes into Afghanistan through the north in order to mitigate against losses in Pakistan.

© ANP/AFP

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