KABUL - Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said that the country was working hard to end its border blockade for NATO supplies into Afghanistan, saying the future of the two nations is interlinked.
Khar emphasized at a press conference in Japan on Friday that reopening the NATO supply route is in Pakistan's national interest as well as Afghanistan's, and that intensive negotiations are underway to see it happen.
"We are committed to being an enabler and a facilitator to the rest of the world.
We do it more for ourselves than for anyone else. We do it as brothers and sisters to our people, to our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan, because their future and our future is interlinked," she said in Japan's capital, Tokyo.
She said that her country is keen to restore better relations with the US, while also calling for more recognition for Pakistan's challenges "on the ground".
"So with all of that let me just say that we are keen to go back on track with the United States, with the rest of the world. We are very keen to continue to play our role as a facilitator, as an enabler, but we hope that the efforts that we have made so far are well recognised, and that easy answers are not found in Pakistan for some of the challenges that exist on the ground," Khar said.
"The challenges that exist on the ground are indeed very complex. We know how complex they are because we suffer from it everyday," she added.
The route was closed in November last year after the US killed 24 Pakistani soldiers near the border in a drone strike.
Pakistan's parliament has demanded that Washington apologies for the border incident and halt attacks by drone aircraft against militants in northwest Pakistan. Most recently, it said it would open the route but for 20-times the transit fee - $5000 per truck instead of $250.
Her comments come as tensions between the Pakistan and US increased over the sentencing for treason of Shakil Afridi, the doctor who helped the US confirm Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's residence in Pakistan.
Asked about Afridi, Khar backed the conviction that he committed a crime.
"I have said this before, I will say it again, that we all have to abide by the law of the country, the law of the country is what prevailed, and we must show respect for the law of the country. This is all," she said. (Tolo News)