Sunday, December 07, 2008
Got to find a new route
Because, despite what the high command may say, the current overland supply route to Afghanistan through the Khyber has a few issues.
About three-quarters of the supplies bound for Western troops in Afghanistan -- fuel, food and equipment -- travel by road after being shipped to the port of Karachi. Afghanistan has no sea access.Forty minutes was enough time to avoid running into the attackers rear guard. But the Pakis are right there to guard the convoys when no one is attacking.
Militant attacks on Western military convoys have been gaining force in recent weeks. Most of the assaults have occurred as trucks moved through the tribal areas on their way to the historic Khyber Pass that leads into Afghanistan.
Nearly a month ago, militants hijacked a convoy of more than a dozen vehicles in the Khyber agency. They posed for triumphal photos with two captured Humvees they draped with Taliban banners. Then last week, 22 trucks were torched at a truck stop close to the scene of today's attack.
Witnesses said in this latest assault, the attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades before overrunning the two depots and torching dozens of trucks. Pakistani police did not arrive at the scene until about 40 minutes later, they said.
Pakistan briefly closed the Khyber Pass to military traffic after the Nov. 10 hijacking, but reopened it, declaring that convoys would be guarded by paramilitary troops on the road. But many truckers said they still felt unsafe.I hope the truckers are paid well.
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