WASHINGTON: The United States will press ahead with its war effort in Afghanistan despite Pakistan's decision to cut off supplies to NATO-led forces after lethal air strikes, the Pentagon said Monday.
Pakistan promptly sealed its border with Afghanistan to NATO supply convoys after allied strikes on Saturday killed 24 Pakistani soldiers near the border, triggering outrage in Islamabad.
But a Pentagon spokesman said the US military would not scale back its operations against Taliban-linked insurgents and expressed hope that the latest tensions with Islamabad would be resolved.
"The war effort continues," press secretary George Little told reporters.
Asked how long US and coalition forces could operate without supplies from routes running through Pakistan, he said: "I don't have a time line to share.
"But the important point to focus on is the war effort will continue. Everyone realizes we have an enemy to engage in Afghanistan and the US military is prepared to carry on."
Nearly half of all cargo bound for NATO-led troops runs through Pakistan. Roughly 140,000 foreign troops, including about 97,000 American forces, rely on supplies from the outside for the ten-year-old war in Afghanistan.
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