Renewed threat to Afghan supply line
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
ISLAMABAD - The United States Defense Department has dismissed Wednesday's
militant attack on a US convoy in Pakistan that destroyed about 60 trucks as
"not going to have an effect" on overall operations in Afghanistan.
However, with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops poised for a
major offensive in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, the fiery and
unprecedented developments on Wednesday morning on the outskirts of the capital
Islamabad ought to be ringing alarm bells that NATO's main supply line is once
again under threat after nearly a year of stability.
More than 60% of non-fuel supplies and up to half of the fuel used by Western
forces in Afghanistan passes through Pakistan. This amounts to about 5,000
containers a month being ferried from the
southern port city of Karachi through the mountainous tribal areas into
Afghanistan, most via the Khyber Pass. The remainder goes via the so-called
northern distribution route from Central Asia.
Up to about a year ago, the convoys took an obligatory 24-hour stop towards the
end of their arduous 1,800-kilometer journey at a truck terminal in Peshawar,
the capital of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa - formerly North-West Frontier Province -
about 155 kilometers from Islamabad.
This stop became the target of such frequent attacks by militants - either by
rocket or by trucks being set on fire - that NATO was forced to open the longer
alternative Central Asia route, as well as move the stopover to Tarnol on the
Grand Trunk Road about 10 kilometers outside the capital.
The change paid off, and goods flowed relatively unhindered into Afghanistan.
This changed dramatically on Wednesday morning when about 15 militants on
motorcycles stormed the depot and opened fire with automatic weapons and
grenades, in the process killing seven people and torching trucks and trailers
contracted to carry containers for NATO. These included food, fuel and
equipment, as well as Humvee vehicles. Guns, bombs and ammunition were not
believed to be in any of the containers destroyed.
"There were 60 trailers gutted by fire. In addition, 80 NATO vehicles were
partially damaged," Shah Nawaz, police station chief in Tarnol, was quoted in
the media as saying. "Seven people, most of them drivers and their helpers,
were killed."
Kaleem Imam, Islamabad's police chief, said the gunmen "kept on firing in the
air to prevent emergency services and the police from reaching the spot". Some
news channels quoted drivers as saying they had heard the attackers
specifically calling on one another to "kill all the drivers".
About 20 militants have been arrested but preliminary investigations reveal
that there was no direct involvement of Taliban fighters.
Inside help?
The tale of NATO's convoys is not simply one of a military receiving a steady
flow of vital supplies and militants trying to prevent this - big money is
involved.
Transport firms based in Karachi, where the NATO shipments are unloaded, charge
about US$7,000 in freight charges per fuel truck between Karachi and
Afghanistan.
Over the past few years, militants have abducted several leading truck
contractors in Karachi and been given large ransoms for their release. Threats
have also been made against drivers.
In this environment, some of the contractors, who mostly hail from the tribal
areas, are believed to have negotiated deals with militants that in exchange
for being left alone they would facilitate attacks on their convoys, given that
they are fully insured and that NATO provides additional compensation for the
owners of destroyed trucks and trailers.
The drivers are the unfortunate casualties caught in the middle of this deadly
game, not to mention NATO's main artery, which, if sufficiently disrupted,
could significantly impact on the Afghan war theater.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. He can
be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com
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