U.S. finds 'way around' Pakistan NATO route blockage

Washington - The No. 2 U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General Curtis Scaparrotti has said the closure of NATO supply routes by Pakistan, has not affected their  operation, as supplies are continuing through alternate routes, and they have been able to get whatever troops need for the war.

According to The News, Scaparrotti said it has not really affected them and will not do so in future.

The NATO supply routes to Afghanistan were closed by Islamabad after a deadly U.S. air raid along the Afghan border in November last year killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Since then, getting  supplies to U.S. troops has become a big challenge, reports CBS News.

"Almost 7,000 pieces, truckloads of equipment, was stranded either in the ports of Karachi, or on the road between the port and the border crossings (after the blockade)," said Maj. Gen. 

Mike Lally, director of operations for the U.S. Transportation Command..

"There was about 40 (to) 50 ships that we had to divert that were en route to Pakistan," Lally added.

The cut-off also cost troops in Afghanistan a major source of fuel.

"About 50 percent of the fuel we purchase, we were purchasing from Pakistan refineries, moving it to Pakistani trucks into Afghanistan," Lally said.

Traffic managers had to start sending everything through what's called the "northern distribution network." Ships carry supplies to ports and from there they are hauled by truck and train to

Afghanistan.

The U.S. started buying fuel from countries to the north of Afghanistan, sometimes air dropping it in bladders directly to remote combat outposts, the report said.