Tajikistan Allows NATO Cargo For Afghanistan

`Tajikistan has allowed (NATO) to use its railways and roads to transit non-military goods to Afghanistan,` said Mark Harnitchek.

Tajikistan has allowed the transit of NATO non-military cargo to Afghanistan by land, a U.S. military commander said on Friday, and pro-Moscow neighbour Kyrgyzstan formalised the closure of a U.S. air base.

Washington is seeking to diversify supply routes for its troops in Afghanistan as militants in Pakistan step up attacks on supply convoys.

"Tajikistan has allowed (NATO) to use its railways and roads to transit non-military goods to Afghanistan," Rear Admiral Mark Harnitchek of the U.S. Transportation Command said on Tajik state television.

He added that Uzbekistan, another Central Asian state that is part of NATO's new supply route to Afghanistan, had also allowed cargo transit, indicating agreements with countries along a new transit land line have now been secured.

An official at Latvia's Riga port said on Friday the first batch of U.S. cargo was already on its way to Afghanistan.

"The first train is out of the port. It left last night," the official said.

From Latvia, NATO's non-military cargo will travel along a planned railway supply route dubbed the Northern Distribution Network which will run across Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Tajikistan's Central Asian neighbour Kyrgyzstan sent the U.S. ambassador a formal notice on Friday demanding that Washington close its military air base in the country and giving U.S. troops 180 days to leave -- in a final step to shut down the base.

Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed the base closure decision into law on Friday and the Foreign Ministry sent the eviction notice later in the day.

The decision removes one of the U.S. military's air supply routes into Afghanistan as Washington prepares to send more troops.

Harnitchek is in Tajikistan with a U.S. military logistics delegation to work out the details of the plan.

"We plan to ship 50 to 200 containers a week from Uzbekistan to Tajikistan and then to Afghanistan," Harnitchek said. "Tajikistan is very important because it is closest to our bases."

The United States has said that cargo such as building materials, medicines and water would be delivered to Uzbekistan by rail via Russia and Kazakhstan.

U.S. Central Command chief David Petraeus visited Uzbekistan on Tuesday. A Western diplomat told Reuters earlier this month that the transit deal between the United States and Uzbekistan had been agreed in principle.

Kazakhstan and Russia have already allowed non-military cargo transit through their territories.