US withdraws military equipment through Pakistan

KABUL: The US military has started to withdraw equipment from Afghanistan through Pakistan ahead of next year's deadline for combat troops to leave the war against the Taliban, an official said Monday.

Two convoys, each hauling 25 shipping containers, entered Pakistan at the Chaman and Torkham border crossings on Sunday as part of the US redeployment of equipment from Afghanistan, US Lieutenant Colonel Les Carroll told AFP.

"The passage of these convoys marks the first US shipments from Afghanistan through Pakistan since July 2012," Carroll said.

Pakistan in July temporarily stopped NATO convoys crossing the border after gunmen attacked NATO trucks, killing a driver, in the town of Jamrud on the outskirts of the main northwestern city Peshawar.

Hanif Khan Marwat, the president of the All Pakistan Goods Carriers Association, said the convoys were on their way to the port city of Karachi.

"The containers are carrying military equipment. This is the first time that such a big number of trucks are coming back to Karachi with Nato equipment," he said.