A top U.S. official said the United States and Tajikistan have finalized a deal on the transit of non-military cargo for Western operations in Afghanistan.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher confirmed the long-expected agreement during a visit to the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, on Tuesday.
The use of the new route to supply 70,000 NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan could begin with two months.
The Obama administration has been looking for new supply routes to Afghanistan after Kyrgyzstan announced earlier this year that it was evicting U.S. troops from the Manas airbase. The main transit route through Pakistan has become increasingly dangerous as militants step up their attacks on supply trucks.
Kyrgyzstan voted to oust coalition forces from the airbase after receiving more than two billion dollars in aid from Russia.
The United States now has deals for the transit of non-lethal cargo with Uzbekistan and Russia.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP.
