US stops cargo shipment through Torkham

WASHNINGTON (PAN, the Pentagon on Tuesday announced to temporarily halt shipment of its retrograde cargo through ground lines of communication (GLOCS) as a precautionary measure.

“We have voluntarily halted US shipments of retrograde cargo through the Pakistan Ground Line of Communication (GLOCC) from Torkham Gate through Karachi to ensure the safety of the drivers contracted to move our equipment,” the Pentagon spokesperson, Mark Wright said.

The United States is aware of the protests have affected one of the primary commercial transit routes between Pakistan and Afghanistan, he said. “We anticipate we will be able to resume our shipments through this route in the near future,” Wright said. 

“While we favor shipping cargo via Pakistan because of cost, we have built flexibility and redundancy into our overall system of air, sea and ground routes to transport cargo into and out of Afghanistan. We also anticipate no long-term impact to our retrograde mission,” Wright said.

GLOC routes are important to the US, NATO, and Pakistan, he said adding that this was reflected recently in the Joint Statement released during the Washington visit of the Pakistani Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, in October.

This is not for the first time that GLOCs has been closed. In the aftermath of the death of 26 Pakistani soldiers due to a NATO strike, Islamabad had shut down GLOCs for several months.

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