ISLAMABAD — Pakistan is planning to tax supplies for U.S.-led coalition troops that are shipped through its territory to land-locked Afghanistan, officials revealed, in retaliation for the recent deaths of its soldiers in a “friendly fire” incident on the border.
Under the proposal being worked up inside the government, which is set to become policy, a transit tax or fee will be imposed on every shipping container sent through Pakistan, according to senior military and civilian officials.
The move will add tens or perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars a year to the cost of the decade-old conflict. It follows the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers at a checkpoint that was shelled by a U.S. helicopter, the latest incident this year to roil the relationship between the anti-terrorism allies.
A spokesman for the military coalition, known as the International Security Assistance Force, said negotiations with the Pakistani government over the supplies issue were ongoing.
