full. During their telephone call Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar made it clear to Secretary of State Clinton that no lethal equipment would transit into Afghanistan through the Ground Lines of Communication i.e. the ground supply lines except those meant for equipping the Afghan National Security Forces. Pakistan's Defense Committee of the Cabinet, which approved the deal, said the agreement was in the country's best interest and a boon to the Afghanistan peace process. Allowing NATO convoys to enter and exit Pakistani territory would speed the withdrawal of Western forces, the Pakistani government said in a statement, and "enable a smooth transition in Afghanistan." According to The New York Times the agreement reflected a growing realisation by Pakistani officials that they had overplayed their hand, misjudged NATO's resolve and ability to adapt to the closing by using an alternative route through Central Asia, and a recognition on both sides that the impasse risked transforming an often rocky relationship into a permanently toxic one at a critically inopportune time. Despite the resolving of the Salala incident there are frictions in both countries relations such as Pakistan's opposition to US drone strikes on Pakistan soil, and Washington's allegations that Islamabad condones, or even assists, anti-American militants. The deal ended a diplomatic deadlock that brought US relations with the nuclear-armed South Asian nation to a near standstill and hindered counter-terrorism operations against Pakistan-based militants. Because of the supply lines closure the United States has spent at least an additional $100 million a month because it was instead forced to move supplies by air, rail or truck through Russia and other countries north of Afghanistan at much longer and more expensive routes. The closure of the supply lines complicated the American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, cost the United States more than $1 billion in extra shipping fees as a result of having to use the alternative routes through Central Asia and also held up delivery of thousands of armoured vehicles and other equipment meant for the fledgling Afghan army and police, slowing US efforts to build Afghan forces that can stand up to the Taliban insurgency as foreign troops withdraw. The reopening of the supply lines means that the US will save hundreds of millions of dollars in the run-up to the withdrawal of NATO forces from the Afghanistan and also that it would help the US and NATO to complete its withdrawal