KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- NATO is considering Central Asian and Russian rail routes to transport supply vehicles for its troops in Afghanistan, an alliance official said.
Speaking to the Financial Times in New Delhi, where he was attending an India-NATO meeting, Diego Ruiz-Palmer, head of the alliance's operations division in Brussels, said a rail route through Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and Central Asian republics was being considered to transport vehicles. The report said NATO has relied on routes through Pakistan for such vehicular transport but the convoys, especially fuel tankers and military vehicles, have come under militant attacks along the Pakistani routes.
At a security conference in Munich, Germany, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen called for a new compact on security in which international partners could join in the effort to help bring stability in Afghanistan.
"We need Pakistan and all the other neighbors of Afghanistan to be engaged in a more constructive way," he said, the Times reported. "What could be the harm for countries such as China, India, Pakistan and others to develop closer ties with NATO? If Afghanistan becomes a safe haven for terrorists they could easily spread through central Asia to Russia."
Rasmussen said Russia, which last year concluded an agreement with the United States on shipment of non-lethal supplies to Afghanistan, could also help supply helicopters, training for pilots and spare parts to the Afghan armed forces, the report said. Pilot training could be provided outside Afghanistan.
