Army Gen. David H. Petraeus said yesterday that the United States had reached agreements to open "additional logistical routes into Afghanistan" through its Central Asian neighbors to the north, reducing dependence on Pakistan as the main transit route for supplies to U.S. and NATO troops. About three-quarters of "nonlethal" supplies for the 64,000-strong U.S. and NATO force in Afghanistan -- food, fuel, construction materials and other goods -- travel by road from the Pakistani port of Karachi and across the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border through the Khyber Pass. Pakistani transit convoys have repeatedly been attacked in recent months by Taliban fighters.
During an eight-day trip, Petraeus stopped in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgystan. "There have been agreements reached" over new transit routes, he said, although he offered no specifics. One possible route includes train and truck convoys through Russia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.