NATO may ask China for support in Afghanistan

[unhappycamper]

NATO may ask China for support in Afghanistan
By Slobodan Lekic - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Mar 2, 2009 21:34:01 EST

BRUSSELS — NATO may ask China to provide support for the war effort in Afghanistan, including possibly opening a supply link for alliance forces, a senior U.S. official said Monday.

The subject is still under consideration and no decision has been reached on whether to approach Beijing, the official said on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the issue.

He spoke ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers on Thursday in Brussels, which will include Hillary Rodham Clinton in her first European trip as U.S. secretary of state.

One way Beijing could help would be to open an alternate logistics route through western China into Afghanistan, the U.S. official said in Brussels.

China shares a 50-mile-long border with Afghanistan in the Wakhan Corridor, a thin sparsely populated strip of Afghan territory separating Pakistan and Tajikistan. The 2,000-year-old-caravan route — once used by Marco Polo — is now a dirt road that crosses some of the world’s most mountainous regions.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/03/ap_nato_china_afghanistan_030209/%2e