Written by 
Pakistan will reopen crucial supply routes to Nato-led forces in Afghanistan after the US apologised for killing 24 of its soldiers in November, Washington and Islamabad have said.
The decision will save the US hundreds of millions of dollars in as it prepares to withdraw from Afghanistan.
Pakistan has said it hopes the move will improve relations with the US and other Nato countries.
The Pakistani Taliban promptly threatened to attack the convoys.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the decision after a telephone conversation with her Pakistani counterpart, Hina Rabbani Khar.
“I offered our sincere condolences to the families of the Pakistani soldiers who lost their lives,” she said in the statement.
Transit fees
The seven month-long row over supply lines have been hugely damaging to relations between Pakistan and the US, with both sides unwilling to back down.
It began in November last year when two dozen Pakistani soldiers were killed as US air strikes hit two posts on the Afghan border.
At the time, Afghan officials said that Nato forces had been retaliating for gunfire from the Pakistani side of the volatile border, but Pakistan rejected that claim.
The supply route through Pakistan is crucial to the United States as it prepares to pull all combat troops out of Afghanistan by 2014.
Reports suggest the US may now release over $1bn in funding to Pakistan’s military.
In a statement, Ms Clinton said: “Foreign Minister Khar and I acknowledged the mistakes that resulted in the loss of Pakistani military lives.
“We are sorry for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military. We are committed to working closely with Pakistan and Afghanistan to prevent this from ever happening again.”
Islamabad confirmed it would not raise transit fees when the lines re-open.
US officials say the existing charge of $250 (£160) per truck will not change – Washington had baulked at a Pakistani demand for $5,000 per container to let supplies flow again.
Un-Islamic (report from Pakistan Post)
Religious leaders have expressed strong concerns over possible restoration of Nato supplies within next few days and said such an act would never be in the interests of Islam and Pakistan as it would be assisting enemies in killing Afghan Muslim brothers.
Defense of Pakistan Council (DPC) said it would re-launch its agitation movement against the rulers for compromising on vital national interests and honour.
Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Syed Munawar Hasan said it would be a foolish decision which the nation would never forgive. He said if the government stuck to its decision of stopping Nato supplies, the US and Nato would be forced to withdraw from the region. He said by restoring supplies, the rulers would be selling the independence of the country and neighbouring Afghanistan for dollars.
He said this was the best time to teach Washington a lesson and to get rid of the drone attacks otherwise the US would never withdraw from the region. The US considered this area the nursery for the jihadis and wanted to annihilate it, he added.
Report from Emirates 24/7
A US official said that as part of the deal Washington will release about $1.1 billion to the Pakistani military from a US “coalition support fund” designed to reimburse Pakistan for the cost of counter-insurgency operations.
The breakthrough, announced by Clinton after she spoke by telephone with Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, follows months of negotiations.
The money had been frozen due to the tensions between the two countries.
“Foreign Minister Khar and I acknowledged the mistakes that resulted in the loss of Pakistani military lives,” Clinton said in a statement.
“We are sorry for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military. We are committed to working closely with Pakistan and Afghanistan to prevent this from ever happening again.”
The deal was announced just days before Tokyo hosts a donor’s meeting on Afghanistan this weekend, when Afghan President Hamid Karzai will reportedly seek $3.9 billion in annual international aid to rebuild the economy.
==
