WASHINGTON (AFP) – Some 20,000 US troops headed for Afghanistan have traveled through Russia using cost-saving transit routes since a US-Russian aerial transit agreement was inked last year, US officials said Wednesday.
"Russia is becoming a much more active operational partner in a collective effort to help stabilize Afghanistan and prevent violent extremism to regain a platform there," said Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns.
An average of two flights a day now transit through Russia to head to the warzone, he said.
The transit routes improve the efficiency of US military transport, saving the US government up to 133 million dollars on fuel, maintenance and other transportation costs each year, according to White House estimates.
But the 20,000 US troops transported to Afghanistan through Russia so far still falls short of the limits mentioned in the agreement reached last year by Burns and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The deal allows up to 4,500 US military flights to transit through Russia each year -- 12 per day -- transporting troops, weapons and other military equipment to Afghanistan.
But only five flights had taken place by mid-January, six months after the document was signed.
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