NATO-Russia Afghanistan cargo transport agreement will not end with ISAF's withdrawal - envoy
MOSCOW. Dec 25 (Interfax) - Russia is ready to discuss the future of the cargo transportation agreements it concluded earlier with some countries participating in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, and these agreements will not be automatically invalidated after 2014, says Russian special presidential representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov.
"No, they are not severed automatically. As the new mission [the NATO mission to Afghanistan, Resolute Support] has been authorized by a UN Security Council resolution, there will be no automatism here," Kabulov said in an interview with Interfax when asked whether ISAF's withdrawal from Afghanistan would automatically end the said agreements.
"NATO has almost not used the northern route over the past year. We are thinking what should be done to this, but this is a matter for discussion and analysis," he said.
Asked whether Moscow is ready to extend these agreements in case of the Western countries' interest, Kabulov replied, "Perhaps yes, although not for the sake of the Europeans but for the sake of the Afghans, so as not to reduce the potential of the Western contingent providing assistance."
Russia had earlier concluded bilateral agreements with a number of countries participating in ISAF, particularly Spain, Italy and the U.S., on transporting cargo through Russian territory in the interests of these countries' troops in Afghanistan. Russia and NATO also concluded an agreement on using Ulyanovsk as a transshipment base in transporting cargo to Afghanistan and out of it. The transit route through Russia has been designated as the northern route, as opposed to the southern route via Pakistan.
The full version of the interview will be available later on www.interfax.ru.
