DUSHANBE, June 26, 2014, Asia-Plus – Tajikistan’s lower house (Majlisi Namoyndagon) of parliament has ratified an agreement between Tajikistan and NATO regarding the provision of host nation support to and transit of NATO forces and NATO personnel.
MP Sattor Kholov says the agreement determines conditions of transit of the NATO forces through the territory of Tajikistan. The agreement also determines conditions of use of Tajikistan’s infrastructure by the NATO forces.
The agreement reportedly consists of eighteen points.
NATO logistics in the Afghan War refers to the efforts of the NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to deliver vital fuel, food, hardware and other logistic supplies to Afghanistan in support of the War in Afghanistan (2001-present). Delivery of supplies is done using a combination of air transport and a series of overland supply routes. There are two routes which pass through Pakistan, and several other routes which pass through Russia and the Central Asian states.
Both routes from Pakistan were closed in November 2011 following the Salala incident and reopened in 2012.
Alternate supply routes through Central Asian states are termed the Northern Distribution Network (NDN). There are several different routes included in the Northern Distribution Network. The most commonly used route, though also one of the longest, starts at the port of Riga, Latvia on the Baltic Sea, and continues for 5,169 km by train southwards through Russia. The supplies then pass through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan before reaching Afghanistan”s northern border at Termez. To get to the south of the country, the supplies must be loaded onto trucks and transported through the mountainous Hindu Kush by means of the Salang Tunnel, which is the main connection between northern and southern Afghanistan. The route is prone to avalanches and quite dangerous.
Another, more southern route starts at Poti, Georgia on the Black Sea and continues to Baku, Azerbaijan where the goods are transferred to barges and ferried across the Caspian Sea. Supplies land in Turkmenistan and then move by rail through Uzbekistan before arriving at the Afghan border. In 2010, this route carried one third of the NDN”s traffic.
A third route, created in order to avoid going through the often volatile country of Uzbekistan, goes from Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan and then through Tajikistan before reaching Termez.
The Northern Distribution Network was established in 2009 in response to the increased risk of sending supplies through Pakistan. Initial permission for the U.S. military to move troop supplies through the region was given on January 20, 2009, after a visit to the region by General Petraeus. The first shipment along the NDN left on February 20, 2009. By 2011, the NDN handled about 40% of Afghanistan-bound traffic, compared to 30% through Pakistan. Only non-lethal resources were allowed on the NDN.
