NATO Looking For Alternative Routes To Support Afghan Operations

Burned-out trucks at a NATO terminal outside the city of Peshawar after a Taliban attack.

NATO says it is interested in finding alternative routes to supply its troops stationed in Afghanistan.

NATO spokesman James Appathurai told RFE/RL's Uzbek Service that talks with Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and the majority of Central Asian countries about possible railway routes to Afghanistan are under way.

Appathurai said the issue cannot be solved quickly. But he add that there are only technical, not political issues, to be resolved.

The project, called "Lines of Communications," has been under discussion for almost two years.

Pakistan is currently the main overland territory used by NATO to supply its operations in Afghanistan.

Pakistani Taliban have recently torched dozens of containers full of supplies meant for Western forces in Afghanistan, however.