Petraeus secures new Afghan supply routes

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- The U.S. military has secured new supply routes to Afghanistan to avoid Taliban attacks on the main supply route, U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus said.

Instead of using the main route through the Khyber Pass, supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan will be moved through Russia and Central Asia, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

About 75 percent of NATO supplies normally are shipped into Afghanistan from western Pakistan, but Taliban militants have pushed deeper into the region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, burning hundreds of NATO supply trucks in Peshawar, Pakistan, and conducting deadly attacks on NATO convoys.

Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in the region, said in Islamabad the U.S. military obtained agreements with Russia and other countries to move supplies into Afghanistan from the north, the Times said.

"It is very important as we increase the effort in Afghanistan that we have multiple routes that go into the country," Petraeus said during a news conference Tuesday. "There have been agreements reached, and there are transit lines now and transit agreements for commercial goods and services in particular that include several countries in the Central Asian states and also Russia."