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By SLOBODAN LEKIC Associated Press | BRUSSELS June 4, 2012 (AP)

NATO has concluded agreements with Central Asian nations allowing it to evacuate vehicles and other military equipment
from Afghanistan and completely bypass Pakistan, which once provided the main supply route for coalition forces.

Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Monday that Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan had agreed to allow the
reverse transport of alliance equipment. Since NATO already has an agreement with Russia, the deal will allow it to ship back to
Europe tens of thousands of vehicles, containers and other items through the overland route when the evacuation picks up
pace later this year.



Pakistan shut down the southern supply routes six months ago after U.S. airstrikes accidentally killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at two
border posts, forcing NATO to switch almost completely to the so-called Northern Distribution Network.

After months of stalemate, Pakistani leaders last month signaled that negotiations on the supply routes were progressing, just in
time to secure an invitation to the weekend NATO summit in Chicago. But since then the two sides have made little progress in the
talks.



The announcement on Monday appears to indicate that Washington and the allies are now preparing for the possibility that the
supply link through Pakistan, said to be about six times cheaper than its northern alternative, may not be reopened at all. It is also
likely to put pressure on Pakistan to ease its negotiating stance, which has been stuck in part on how much money the U.S. and
NATO should pay to transport the trucks through Pakistani territory.



Moscow also has proposed allowing NATO to set up a logistics facility at the air base in Ulyanovsk, Russia, for troops and cargo
heading in and out of Afghanistan.