Kabul – Pakistan and Afghanistan have finally signed the Pakistan-Afghanistan Transit Trade Agreement today in Kabul.

The sources said Federal Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim and his Afghan counterpart signed the transit deal.Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and US envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrook were also present on the occasion.It was enshrined in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two countries that Afghanistan would be entitled to bring its trucks to Wahga borders, where goods would be transported to India onboard Indian vehicles.In return of allowing Afghan-India trade, Pakistan will have access to Central Asian Republics (CAR) through Afghanistan.

The signing of this transit trade agreement will give Afghan export consignments for India access up to the Wagah border.Afghan trucks with export items for India will be allowed to drive through the country to Karachi.

The deal, however, doesn’t allow India a trade corridor through Pakistan to Afghanistan.The trade between India and Afghanistan through sea routes will, however, continue to take place under the previous arrangement.

Earlier this month, Pakistan’s federal cabinet approved the trade agreement, but kept its scope restricted by disallowing the transport of Indian export goods to the war-torn country through its lands.The government had said that Indian containers of export items for Afghanistan would not be allowed to enter through Wagah border

Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira told the media after the cabinet meeting the other day that Pakistan would be the ultimate winner of this agreement.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan accused India on Thursday of not being serious about the resumption of the peace process between the two neighbours and sought US intervention to help resolve issues in the subcontinent ahead of President Barack Obama’s crucial trip to New Delhi.

“We have no concerns regarding President Obama’s visit to India. We hope his visit will help bring peace in the region,” said Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit at a weekly news briefing.

His remarks coincide with the statement of new US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter, who disclosed that President Obama will bring a message of peace for the region during his upcoming visit to India. Munter told the state-run Radio Pakistan that President Obama, who is scheduled to arrive in India on November 6, will tell the Indian leadership that Islamabad and New Delhi can find solutions to their problems by working together.

At the recently concluded strategic dialogue in Washington, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi urged President Obama to take up the Kashmir dispute with the Indian leadership during his visit to New Delhi. “His coming visit to the region is the time to begin to redeem the pledge, that he made earlier,” Qureshi said.

During his election campaign, President Obama promised to appoint a special representative on Kashmir if voted to power. But he backtracked on his words when he named Richard Holbrooke as his special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan. Obama excluded India after New Delhi opposed the idea of being bracketed with Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“We hope during his visit President Obama would take up issues which are central to ensuring peace in the region,” said the Foreign Office spokesman.

WASHINGTON: The US military chief said on Sunday he was confident the United States and Pakistan could resolve the issues that led to Pakistan closing a major supply route for US and Nato operations in Afghanistan.

A Pentagon press statement, quoted Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, as telling reporters in Tucson, Arizona, that he had not yet seen any major impact on the US-led forces in Afghanistan from the closing.

The admiral acknowledged that the US military had analysed the situation to determine what the effects would be if the route was closed for a longer period, but hoped that such a closure could be averted.

“I believe we will figure a way to work our way through this,” he said, emphasising Pakistan’s importance as a strategic partner.

Pakistan closed the crossing at Torkham after US helicopters killed three Pakistani soldiers on Sept 30.

The incident escalated tensions over civilian casualties along the border, prompting the closure.

The American Forces Press Service noted that about 50 per cent of coalition forces’ non-lethal supplies, including water, food and fuel, reached Afghanistan through Pakistan’s Torkham and Shaman gates.

Admiral Mullen, who has visited Pakistan 20 times since taking the top military post in 2007, said the United States had been working to rebuild Pakistani trust. How that’s resolved, he said, would go a long way towards shaping the future US-Pakistani relationship.

“We left them in a dark hole from about 1990 to 2002, and they don’t trust us,” he said. “We are trying to rebuild that trust. And it’s basically coming, but you don’t rebuild it overnight.”

This effort, he noted, came at a time of “enormous challenge” for Pakistan, whose border with Afghanistan is “the epicentre of terrorism”.“They have just been devastated” by an unprecedented flood, said Admiral Mullen, who toured flood-stricken areas of Pakistan last month with the Pakistani Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.