I apologize for my absent of late as I was spending the holidays way up in Alaska with my family, including my new niece. There has been much happening in our Central Asian region of the world and I will try to discuss all the recent happenings as soon as possible.
Before the holidays took over for us in the West, NATO supply routes through Pakistan into Afghanistan were under siege by Taliban insurgents. Since then, actions have been taken by both NATO officials, to find alternative supply routes through Russia and the Central Asian states north of Afghanistan, and the Pakistani government, which shut down a crucial part of the Pakistan-based supply route to try and weed out Taliban militants.
In regards to Russia, talks between NATO and Moscow officials appear to be going well and there may even be opportunities for a greater allotment of shipments, even including those with lethal goods.
"Talks are now under way for a NATO-wide air transit for military goods, not specified as nonlethal," said James Appathurai, NATO's chief spokesman.
"Those talks are going well," Mr. Appathurai added. "The Russian Federation has publicly and repeatedly made it clear that this is an issue of strategic interest to them, and that despite disagreements we have over other issues, this area of cooperation has been walled off and preserved. We expect it to be deepened."
Though there are those in Russia who still feel a greater US presence in Central Asia, a region they consider their ‘backyard’ is something to be feared.
The bottom line of this issue is that the government, civilian, and foreign military units in Afghanistan get the resources they need to prosper and bring stability. How this happens, as in where the supplies comes from, is largely secondary, but this is another sad aspect of the rising instability inside of Pakistan.
(Photo: New York Times, a supply route in Pakistan)