WASHINGTON, Jan 19: The Pentagon says the US is paying six times more than before to send war supplies to troops in Afghanistan through alternate routes since Pakistan's punitive decision in November to close border crossings to Nato convoys.

Pentagon figures provided to the AP show it now costs about $104 million per month to move the supplies through a longer northern route, $87 million more a month than whenthe cargo moved through Pakistan.

Islamabad shut down two key Pakistan border crossings after a US airstrike killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in late November, and it is unclear when it might reopen them.

US officials have acknowledged that using alternate transportation routes for Afghan war supplies is more expensive and takes longer, butthe totalcosts had notbeen discloseduntil now.-AP