NATO offers to import through Gwadar Port: Pak

The US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military coalition in Afghanistan has offered to import vital supplies through the south-west port of Gwadar, said the Pakistani officials.

Pakistan's Minister for Maritime Affairs, Hasil Bizenjo, said the NATO representatives proposed the idea at a recent meeting, which he had convened with local and international business leaders.

"NATO told us it would be extremely convenient for them in terms of quick transportation of supplies from Gwadar directly to Kandahar. They are very interested and we are working on it," Bizenjo told Voice of America (VOA) in an interview on Wednesday.

The Gwadar Port, which is in Pakistan's Balochistan province, adjoins Afghanistan's Kandahar province.

Kandahar hosts one of the five US military bases in the war-torn nation.

NATO supplies are shipped through the Karachi Port currently, where they then are placed on trucks and transported on a week-long journey to neighbouring Afghanistan, according to the reports.

Resolute Support, a coalition of about 16,000 troops, mostly consists of Americans advising and assisting Afghan forces in their battle against the Taliban and other militant groups.

--ANI