NATO, Russia to boost military cooperation in Afghanistan

NATO, Russia boost military ties in Afghan war

BRUSSELS — NATO’s top officer said Wednesday that Russia had agreed to boost cooperation with the alliance in Afghanistan, including opening more transit routes for supplies to international troops and helping service Soviet-built helicopters used by the security forces.

Italian Adm. Giampaolo Di Paola, who heads the alliance’s military committee, said Russian Chief of Staff Gen. Nikolai Makarov had told his allied counterparts that Moscow was extrememly interested in helping the war effort in Afghanistan.

“He said Russia had an even greater interest than the alliance in a successful outcome there,” Di Paola told reporters.

Tuesday’s meeting of the military chiefs of NATO’s 28 countries with Makarov marked the resumption of military-to-military ties between the alliance and Russia, which were frozen in the aftermath of the war with Georgia in 2008. Diplomatic relations were normalized last year, but vital military links had remained blocked.

Agreements included giving NATO access to more supply corridors, and Russian help in maintaining the transport and gunship helicopters in use by allied and Afghan forces. These accords will be reviewed at a follow-up meeting with Makarov, Di Paola said.

NATO also confirmed it had finalized an agreement with Kazakhstan to open the last leg on the overland route to Afghanistan from Europe via Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. It will offer an alternative to the alliance’s main logistics chain through Pakistan, which has come under repeated militant attack in the past.