China may be called on to help with the Afghanistan war effort by possibly opening a new supply route for alliance forces, a senior U.S. official said

China may be called on to help with the Afghanistan war effort by possibly opening a new supply route for alliance forces, a senior U.S. official said Monday.

The remark was made ahead of a meeting of North Atlantic Treaty Organization foreign ministers — including Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — that started Monday in Brussels.

No firm decision has yet been made to approach the Chinese government, the official told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, given the sensitivity of the topic.

But one option could be to ask China to open an alternate logistics route through western China into Afghanistan, the official said.