Pakistan
Government justifies the USD 5,000
fee for shipping NATO containers
to Afghanistan as officials familiar
with the US-Pakistan talks say Islamabad’s
demand is “neither irrational nor
out of the blue”, reports The
Express Tribune. As Pakistan
and the United States make some
headway in bilateral talks, Islamabad’s
demand for USD 5,000 per container
for transporting goods to Afghanistan
through its territory remains the
biggest stumbling block. The supplies
made to ISAF and NATO forces stationed
in Afghanistan have ruined Pakistan’s
road infrastructure over the last
nine years of cooperation, they
added.
Meanwhile,
the US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta
has ruled out paying Pakistan this
amount. The infrastructure was used
for eight years without paying any
charges. In the ninth year, the
US started paying a nominal handling
fee of USD 220 per container to
National Logistic Cell – the army’s
logistics arm, officials said. Terming
Pakistan’s demand as “extortion,”
Senator John McCain, a former Republican
presidential aspirant, had claimed
that the US was paying USD 250 per
container to Pakistan. |
