NATO secures route of retreat through Central Asia

BBC:

Nato has signed deals with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to use their territory for evacuating vehicles and military equipment from Afghanistan.

The agreement will allow the military alliance to bypass Pakistan, which has blocked Nato from using its territory in a disagreement over drone strikes.

Nato will begin pulling troops and equipment out of Afghanistan in earnest later this year.

This deal means it can return equipment to Europe overland via Russia.

Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced the Central Asian deals on Monday.

He told a press conference: "These agreements will give us a range of new options and the robust and flexible transport network we need."

The US-led Nato operation in Afghanistan is due to wind down completely by the end of 2014.

Tens of thousands of vehicles, containers and arms will have to leave them. The force has already started pulling out some equipment.

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This gives them a way to avoid the Pakistani trolls who have been trying to charge extortionate  rates for each vehicle to transit their roads.  This may put more pressure on Pakistan to be reasonable.  If they can't strike a deal the US will have little incentive to continue to provide funds to the government.  Those funds are already at risk because of the Pakistani's treatment of the doctor who helped us find bin Laden.  There is also the matter of the sanctuaries they are providing to the enemy for his attacks on Afghanistan.  Failure to reach a compromise could also lead to increased attacks on those sanctuaries.