January 18, 1900 - 1:00 AM
By Roman Kozhevnikov
DUSHANBE (Reuters) - Tajikistan has agreed to allow the transit of NATO non-military cargo to Afghanistan, a U.S. military commander said Friday, a day after neighbouring Kyrgyzstan decided to close a U.S. air base on its land.
"Tajikistan has allowed (NATO) to use its railways and roads to transit non-military goods to Afghanistan," Rear Admiral Mark Harnitchek of the U.S. Transportation Command said on Tajik state television.
He added that Uzbekistan, another Central Asian state that is part of NATO's new supply route to Afghanistan, had also allowed cargo transit.
Washington seeks to diversify supply routes for its troops in Afghanistan as militants in Pakistan step up attacks on supply convoys.
But deputies in Tajikistan's Central Asian neighbour Kyrgyzstan voted Thursday to shut down a U.S. military air base, removing one of the U.S. military's supply routes into Afghanistan as it prepares to send more troops.
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed the base closure decision into law Friday. Washington will have to wrap up its operations in the country within 180 days once it has received a formal note from the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry.
Harnitchek is in Tajikistan with a U.S. military logistics delegation. The country had earlier said it was ready to provide a transit corridor, but gave no details on whether it would be an air route or a land one.
"We plan to ship 50 to 200 containers a week from Uzbekistan to Tajikistan and then to Afghanistan," Harnitchek said. "Tajikistan is very important because it is closest to our bases."
The United States has said that cargo such as building materials, medicines and water would be delivered to Uzbekistan by rail via Russia and Kazakhstan.
U.S. Central Command chief David Petraeus visited Uzbekistan Tuesday. A Western diplomat told Reuters earlier this month that the transit deal between the United States and Uzbekistan had been agreed in principle.
Kazakhstan and Russia have already allowed non-military cargo transit through their territories.
(Reporting by Roman Kozhevnikov; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov)
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