KABUL -- Afghanistan's Education Ministry has urged Pakistan to reopen supply routes to NATO to allow for the delivery to Afghanistan of 4.5 million textbooks intended for Afghan schoolchildren.
The head of the Ministry's Publication Department, Atahullah Wahedyar, said the delay in transporting the textbooks, which are stuck in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, has created a shortage of education materials.
Afghan children began a new school term in April.
Wahedyar said he regretted the issue had become what he called "political" because of the tense relations between NATO and Pakistan.
NATO-Pakistan relations have plummeted since a NATO drone attack in November killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in an army outpost along the border with Afghanistan.
Pakistan closed to NATO all Pakistani land supply routes into Afghanistan in retaliation for the incident.
The head of the Ministry's Publication Department, Atahullah Wahedyar, said the delay in transporting the textbooks, which are stuck in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, has created a shortage of education materials.
Afghan children began a new school term in April.
Wahedyar said he regretted the issue had become what he called "political" because of the tense relations between NATO and Pakistan.
NATO-Pakistan relations have plummeted since a NATO drone attack in November killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in an army outpost along the border with Afghanistan.
Pakistan closed to NATO all Pakistani land supply routes into Afghanistan in retaliation for the incident.
