Tajikistan has agreed to offer its airspace for transport of non-military NATO supplies to Afghanistan to help Washington boost its transit lines in the region, the U.S. ambassador to Tajikistan said on Friday, Reuters reported.
Kyrgyzstan, another Central Asian nation, said this week it would shut down a key U.S. military airbase on its territory, leaving the United States scrambling to find alternative supply routes for NATO forces in landlocked Afghanistan.
"The (Tajik) president confirmed his readiness to offer the country's airspace for non-military NATO supplies bound for Afghanistan," Ambassador Tracey Ann Jacobson, speaking in Russian, told reporters.
"This necessity emerged after a decision was made to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan," she said.
Tajikistan, an impoverished nation bordering Afghanistan, had said before it was considering offering its airspace for certain types of supplies bound for Afghanistan.
A Western diplomatic source told Reuters separately on Thursday the United States was close to a deal with Uzbekistan that would also allow Washington to open a new railway supply route for its troops in Afghanistan.