MOSCOW, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The United States has planned to carry out 11 military cargo flights to Afghanistan across Russian air space, said U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Beryle here on Wednesday.
Beryle also told the Ekho Moskvy radio station that five such flights so far have been completed, denying earlier reports that only one such flight occurred.
During a Moscow summit between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama last July, the two countries reached an agreement to let the U.S. military cargo to Afghanistan transit through the Russian territory and bypass troubled Pakistan.
The agreement will be extensively used this year, said the diplomat, as President Obama has declared major troop reinforcements to the Central Asia state.
Analysts said the reason behind Russia's cooperative attitude toward the U.S.-led military operation in Afghanistan was that terrorism posed a threat to Central Asia, and drugs were being transported to Russia from Afghanistan.
