NATO Hopes For Reopening Of Pakistan Supply Route

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- NATO says it hopes for a quick reopening of the blocked supply routes through Pakistan because the 5-week closure is damaging the economies of both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

NATO spokesman Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson says the coalition has a stockpile of supplies that can keep operations in Afghanistan running at their current level even if those routes remain closed.

Islamabad shut the routes - which NATO uses to ship about 40 percent of the supplies for its forces in landlocked Afghanistan - after alliance airstrikes killed 24 Pakistani border troops in November.

The coalition has reduced its dependence on Pakistan over the last two years by developing alternative routes that enter Afghanistan through Russia and Central Asia.