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Politics of the supply routes to Afghanistan



It is an established principle of warfare that controlling the supply lines is essential to winning a war. The Afghan supply line question has become even more urgent now with a surge of 30,000 more troops planned to be sent to Afghanistan in the next 18 months. USA has relied mainly on Pakistan for supplies,but growing frustration from escalated attacks from extremists has NATO seeking other routes I am going to discuss the current and alternate supply routes ,the different nations and politics involved in getting supplies to Afghanistan


Pakistan


Currently 75% of all the supplies for Afghanistan go thru Pakistan. Supplies arrive at the port of Karachi and are sent to contractors, who hire truckers to get them to the Khyber pass 700 miles away. Many of the truckers are poorly paid and are refusing to take the job for fear of their lives, many truckers have been kidnapped or killed by the insurgents. The khyber pass has about 400 trucks passing thru a day but that number has fallen to about 100 trucks all with Pakistani troops to provide escort. Supported by Pakistan’s JI =Jamaat e Islami party the truckers declared a boycott of all military cargo transported to Afghanistan. In a sign of the increased insurgency land bridges have been destroyed ,supply trucks have been torched ; as well as disruptions from the port of Karachi have caused extensive delays in supplies reaching Afghanistan. In a response to these developments Pakistan has carried out short term operations in the tribal areas which have been unsuccessful only to have the militants return to resume attacks. Initially the Taliban first struck heavy slow moving trucks than when USA pressured Pakistan to beef up their presence on the roads the insurgents started attacking the trucks at truck stops in Peshawar, in one incident last year 100 trucks were torched. NATO claims the attacks do not interrupt operations since 60-90 days of fuel and food are kept on hand but are seeking alternate routes. The short term Pakistani operations against the insurgents have been unsuccessful because many analyst feel that Taliban sympathizers in the Pakistani army either alert the insurgents ahead of time or allows them to cross the border freely. USA has tried it’s best to secure the supply lines thru Pakistan while maintaining a distance from Pakistan, currently Predator drones carry out attacks on militant hideouts,many of the drones are believed to be operating from bases in Pakistan even though the Pakistani government denies it. Obama has assured the Pakistani government that troops will not be sent into Pakistan to get to the root of the problem . After all the failures and frustrations Obama has tripled aid to Pakistan and increased military and non military assistance in hopes of keeping Pakistani supply routes open if all other options fail. After 7 years of the same policy, Obama has not come up with anything original only increased the amount of aid in the hope of succeeding in a failing strategy by throwing more money at it. But Obama has for the first time asked for transparency to aid given to Pakistan and tied the aid to terrorism . Pakistan has used the supply lines as leverage and a bargaining chip, to reduce this leverage and increase the chance of victory NATO is seeking alternate supply routes .


Central Asia/Russia


Uzbekistan has agreed to allow US to transit non-military goods to Afghanistan. USA is trying for similar agreements with Russia, Kazakastan and Turkmenistan. The deal was welcomed relief after Krygyzstan recently voted to close the vital Manas air base a 24 hour operation playing a key role in transporting troops, refueling combat airplanes and medical evacuations . The closure came after Russia promised 2 billion in aid to kyrgyzstan. Which NATO felt the aid was a bribe and a hostile act by Russia . Alternatives to Manas are being sought in Tajikistan where there are many Soviet era air bases. 80% of all the fuel transported to Afghanistan is sent from Central Asia. The Central Asian supply lines also come with their share of problems. Many nations in Central asia are dictatorships and Islamic ; who do not view democracy for Afghanistan as important cause and view the war as a greater war against Islam, convincing them of their own Taliban and Al queda threat has been no easy task, also Russia still has a strong presence in the region and has the final word in most matters. Countries like Turkmenistan get much of their revenue from GAZPROM the Russian oil conglomerate and would do little to upset Russia in fear of losing their revenue. A plan was proposed that involved Turkey-Georgia-Azerbajan to the Caspian sea to Turkmenistan route which became to complex containing multiple land and sea routes and roads needed to be built as well as ports needed to be developed, further complicating the plan was the Georgia –Russian conflict, as well as organized crime groups requesting large sums for protection money . Russia is still wary of USA ‘s role in Afghanistan, Russians feel USA used the premise of 9/11 to build a presence in Afghanistan for strategic encirclement of not only Russia but also China and Iran. This belief may have lead to the creation of SCO the Shanghai corporation ,which presents itself as an energy organization but also has military implications. Currently China and Russia control the SCO with Central Asian nation members, there are also many observer nations from other parts of Asia like India, Pakistan, Iran and Mongolia who may become future members, the future role of SCO could limit US presence in the region and possibly grow to become a direct threat to NATO ‘s position as the sole military alliance as well as reduce the role of UN in world affairs. Recently Russia requested Afghanistan to become a member of SCO, a move which challenged USA’s role in the war. Russia has expressed her willingness to cooperate with NATO in Afghanistan with the supply lines in return has asked for assurances from NATO to keep Ukraine and Georgia from becoming future NATO members to prevent any further encirclement and also requested USA to drop their plans for a missile shield in Eastern Europe ,no assurances have been given by USA in this regard. Many of the routes thru Central Asia are viable only if relations between Russia and USA are maintained. The routes would also allow Russia to maintain leverage over USA . Russia would also look bad to lose in a place where they helped USA to win.

continued
 
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India


India has been the biggest benefactor to Afghanistan in aid and in humanitarian relief. Afghanistan has become a proxy war for India and Pakistan. India and Russia backed the Northern alliance while Pakistan with Saudi funding backed the Taliban. Pakistan has very little interest in getting rid of the Taliban, who they view as strategic depth for their proxy war in Kashmir. In the war on terror Pakistan has now taken the reluctant role of destroying their Taliban creation. In this struggle the Indian embassy in Kabul was bombed by a suicide bomber where India ,Afghanistan and USA blamed Pakistan intelligence for the attack. Indian foreign minister pranav mukherjee and Hamid Karzai have signed a deal to ship goods to Afghanistan from Iran thru a road built by India. The road is a multi lane highway which cost 150 million dollars to build which runs from Delaram to Zaranj on the Iranian border which connects to the Iranian port of Chahbar. The 220km road is a part of a 1.1 billion dollar reconstruction of Afghanistan by India. The road has triggered fears in Pakistan of encirclement by India. This road has been viewed by NATO as an alternate route for supplies to Afghanistan. Some analysts believe a deal could be struck with Tehran and New Delhi which would redirect most if not all the traffic going to Karachi to the Iranian port. This route is also the most practical route it is cheaper and quicker than air routes and cheaper than the multiple sea routes as well as avoiding Pakistan it avoids all the SCO nations since Iran has yet to become a member. It would also make fuel supplies from the Middle East much easier . This supply route would free up dependence of USA from Pakistan and give India a free hand to tackle the terror from across the border, like the recent Mumbai attack where USA asked India to refrain from a response due to the Pakistani blackmail of pulling the troops from the Afghan border, it would also help with further reconstruction of Afghanistan and broaden the war against the Taliban to a point where India has contemplated sending troops against the Taliban. In another unlikely scenario not completely avoiding Pakistan . Analysts have suggested India can receive supplies in an Indian port and transit them thru Indian and Pakistani Kashmir to Afghanistan . The terrain would need much development and take precious time, as well as resolve by the Pakistanis to eliminate terrorist groups operating in the area But many in History like the British have already failed to do so in the treacherous mountain regions as well as the complex Indian and Pakistani history make this last possibility impossible. Indians Analysts have suggested rather than go thru that route supplies from Indian ports can be flown to Afghanistan if all other options are exhausted





Iran


Another option NATO is considering is to establish diplomacy with Iran in hopes of getting a supply line thru Iran to Afghanistan. USA has not had relations with Iran for 3 decades, the requests are being made by other NATO members like Germany. A stable Afghanistan would be in Iran’s best interest since it is a neighboring country. Establishing relations with Iran will not be easy, the Bush administration took a hardball approach with Iran’s nuclear program with repeated threats of war. Iran also been deemed one of the axis of evil by Bush. Iran has been accused of fueling the insurgencies in both Iraq and Afghanistan against US troops. Iran has made repeated threats to destroy Israel and as openly backed the terrorist organization Hezbollah against Israel. There is also a fear asking Iran for help may lead to a compromise in Iran’s nuclear program, Iran has said they are a NPT member and have made threats of breaking the treaty if they are forced to give up their nuclear program. Recently India, Russia and Iran held their own meeting to discuss the future of Afghanistan their role in it. India and Russia can both play a role in helping mediate a supply route with Iran, since both countries have always maintained relations with Iran even after the West broke all diplomatic ties. Opening diplomatic relations may help with a number of issues from the supply route to Afghanistan to questions about Iran;s nuclear and missile programs as well as a de escalation in the bitter Iranian and Israeli relations. In new developments in a meeting between India,Iran and Russia over Afghanistan a proposal was made by USA to form a group involving Russia, China, India, Iran and Gulf nations as well as Central Asian nations to unite to defeat the Taliban
The Afghan supply lines are more complex than delivering goods to the war effort they have changed the whole dynamics of the region, to the point where all the major powers have to cooperate in an effort to defeat the Taliban and bring stability to the region.
 

SATISH

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I would say the shortest route to Afghanistan will be through Iran through the Chabar port. The Port and Highway that connects the port to Afghanistan is built by India. It is a far more safer route as Iran fears the spill-over of Sunni extremism into its soil. So bringing US and Iran together will be a win-win situation for all the countries of NATO and the intrests of all the countries are preserved and we can successfully isolate Pakistan. Iranians have been called for negotiations on the nuclear issue by the P5 and Germany. If a deal is reached we will be the first people to gain and Pakistan will be the first to lose. If Iran allows inspection of the nuclear plant and if America is convinced with Iran operating reactors only for peaceful purposes then it is a victory for all.
 
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Satish you are right the route thru Iran will happen it is only a matter of time.
 

Pintu

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First congratulation to LEATHALFORCE for posting a nice analysis on a topic that is most
shot in this region of South Asia.

The route from port Chahbahar in Sistan and Baluchistan province of Iran to Zaranj and upto Delaram is the most cheap way of supply line only available to the NATO and the US forces, than the rout now persists in Pakistan which is not safe at all and can not be guaranteed by that country.

However , one point is I am to state that the area Sistan and Baluchistan province homes to Iran's minority Sunny Baloch population, [from where road from port Chhabar to Zaranj lies ,as shown in Map ] which has sympathy against Iran's Shia Persi dominated rule in keeping their interest and also there violent activity is created by Jundallah against the Iranian interest(link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jundallah) for reaching that goal by targeting Iranian civilians and the security personnel including IRGC. This organisation is lebelled as 'Terrorist' organisation by both Iran and Pak, also these are called as part of Baluchistan uprising in Pakistan. The Pak and Iran co operated to crush the uprising cruelly in past. Some times , the group had suspected to have link with Al Quida , US was accused to support Jundallah covertly. Even , Pak support was suspected. The border with Pak is porus and lawless in nature and area is still underdeveloped.

In this regard , my point is that if the route is viable, then it has to be made safe for being viable.

With regards to LEATHALFORCE and Satish and all respected members
 
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Jundallah is backed by USA, if Iranian route is being used by USA they would not attack their benefactor.
 

Pintu

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If this possibility of Jundallah's interference is negative, then the route will be a viable NATO supply line.
 

A.V.

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THIS ARTICLE is published on the DFI webpage/homepage all members can comment and discuss on the blog page there too.
 
I

INDIANBULL

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Nice article LF, we need to actively engage Iran to open these supply lines for India and nato, it will definitely screw pakistan and after that we need to send our troops and encircle porkis and then denuclearise them with help of nato how dangerous it may seem but we will be cured of this spreading cancer. We also need to covertly support talibanisation of pakistan and terror activities in porkistan so that they collapse and implode slowly and porki army gets exhausted and completly bleeds out and then there will be a pretext to to attack them from all sides to secure their nuclear arsenal or to destroy it. It seems too dangerous to conduct such a operation but the death of pakistan will be a greatest victory for us and things are slowly moving in that direction. after the death of terrorist republic of pakistan all the separtist movements in our country will die simultaneously(kashmir) or will be crushed with a little use of force.
 

Pintu

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LF , it is also that the port Chahbahar developed by Indian assistance and with Indian help Iran upgraded Chahbahar-Melek route and using Chahabahar-Zeranj-Delaran route ,for NATO supply line will help warming up the Iran , India relations again like in old days and also I think will bring the USA and Iran closer.
 
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Six NATO oil tankers charred on Peshawar outskirts

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal...-charred-on-peshawar-outskirts_100177928.html

Six NATO oil tankers charred on Peshawar outskirts

April 10th, 2009 - 2:55 pm ICT by ANI Tell a Friend -

Taliban Peshawar, Apr.10 (ANI): At least six oil tankers, used for supplying fuel to NATO troops in Afghanistan, were reportedly destroyed on Friday by suspected Taliban fighters in Chamkani region here.

According to The News, unidentified militants blasted an oil tanker loaded with highly inflammable fuels.

The blast triggered a massive blaze which engulfed six out the thirty-five tankers parked there.

The fire was brought under control by the Pakistan Air Force fire tenders after local fire fighters failed to contain the flames.

Special chemicals were used to extinguish the raging flames, a security official informed.

Several NATO supply trucks have been destroyed in the recent past in similar incidents in the region.(ANI)
 

Adux

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To be Honest, US is seeing Iran from the prism of Israel as well as from their own to some extent coloured eyes. Without a sea change in US-Iran relationship at the expense of Pakistan, it will be be Pakistan which will make India pay, making US calling India to show restrain and understanding against Indian interest! We are the one's in a predicament and the one's without a plan!
 
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Swiss leak word of secret U.S.-Iranian talks

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/bab...ar-israel-switzerland-secret-war-bombing.html

IRAN: Swiss leak word of secret U.S.-Iranian talks

Iran-obama2 For six years, groups of American and Iranian academics and others have been secretly traveling to Geneva and other European cities for closed-door brainstorming sessions on how to break through three decades of hostility between the two nations, a Swiss newspaper is reporting.

According to a lengthy and detailed report in the French-language Swiss daily Le Temps, the informal series of meetings took place with the full knowledge of authorities in Washington and Tehran.

About 400 people have taken part in the discussions -- called the "Track II" process -- including experts and scholars from Europe, the Arab world and Israel. None of the participants would speak on the record about the meetings.

But Switzerland's foreign minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey, told reporters that her government was fully aware of the contacts, the last of which took place from March 6 to 8.

"The talks are on a purely informal level and the foreign ministry is not involved," she said, according to an English-language report on the website of Swiss public broadcasting.

Both Iran and the U.S. consider Switzerland neutral ground.

Bern, the Swiss capital, has served as Washington's diplomatic rep in Tehran since Iran and the U.S. broke off relations in the early 1980s.

It has also won Tehran's favor for its refusal to abide by U.S. restrictions against doing big business with Iran, including multibillion-dollar energy deals.

One unnamed scholar told Le Temps he took part in hopes that dialogue could lead to mutual understanding between Iran and the U.S. He said participants could say whatever they wanted during freewheeling discussions, unrestricted by the ideological straitjackets imposed on diplomats in Washington and Tehran.

Among those present at the meeting in early March were a person close to the Iranian government and an ambassador, as well as nuclear scientists, strategists and experts of international relations in a discussion about Iran's controversial nuclear program, according to Le Temps.

Le Temps said the venue for the informal meetings would shift away from Geneva to avoid the international spotlight.
 
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NATO, US seek alternatives to Pakistan supply routes

http://features.csmonitor.com/globa...-seek-alternatives-to-pakistan-supply-routes/




NATO, US seek alternatives to Pakistan supply routes

By Anand Gopal | Correspondent 04.12.09

Kabul, Afghanistan - Militants attacked a supply depot Sunday in Pakistan that serves Western forces in Afghanistan, increasing the pressure for US and NATO officials to find alternatives to their beleaguered supply lines.

In a predawn raid in the northwestern city of Peshawar, scores of Pakistani Taliban guerrillas torched trucks stationed at the supply terminal. The assault is the latest in a series that have targeted the Western supply convoys that run through Pakistan to replenish forces fighting in Afghanistan.

Attacks on convoys and depots increased dramatically in 2008 after militants gained a foothold in the Khyber Agency, an area bordering Afghanistan through which supply routes run. The guerrillas have torched more than 500 vehicles in the last year, and a number of times they even succeeded in temporarily halting the supply chain altogether.

Some 70 percent of Western supplies come through the militant-infested western Pakistan. To add to US and NATO difficulties, another major supply route via a base in Kyrgyzstan, is slated to close.

“This is strategically vital,” says Waliullah Rahmani, policy analyst with the Kabul Center for Strategic Studies. “For the Americans to win this war, it’s important to find another route.”

US officials are actively seeking such routes. A series of recently-inked agreements allow the movement of non-lethal materiel through the former Soviet Central Asian States. The Monitor recently reported on US efforts to open a supply route through Uzbekistan. Officials are also considering other, even more complicated routes that pass through the caucuses.

But the alternatives come with difficulties of their own. The new “northern route” utilizes a complex rail network through many different countries, taking longer and costing more than the Pakistani route. And American overtures to the former Soviet states, in what is widely considered Russia’s sphere of influence, might spark tensions between Washington and Moscow.

Still, Moscow fears the growing strength of Islamic militants on its flank, and may be willing to work with the US and NATO. Click here to read about it.

But replacing Pakistan supply routes completely won’t be easy. The American military uses jet fuel of a standard only produced in the Gulf States and Pakistani refineries. “This will make it hard for the US to abandon Pakistan even if the northern routes work out,” says Mr. Rahmani.
 
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Pakistan militants attack NATO supply trailers

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/04/12/pakistan.attacks/

Pakistan militants attack NATO supply trailers


ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- More than 80 militants attacked a supply terminal in northwest Pakistan that serves U.S. and NATO-led troops in Afghanistan, police said.

The militants used rocket launchers and petrol bombs to torch 10 trailers at the terminal early Sunday in Peshawar, said Warid Khan of the city's police.

An ensuing gun battle with the militants wounded three security guards, said Hassan Muhammad, also of Peshawar police.

Peshawar is the capital of the North-West Frontier Province, which intelligence officials say is rife with Islamic extremists and has been the site of recent clashes between Pakistani security forces and militants.

Because Afghanistan is landlocked, many supplies for NATO-led troops fighting Islamic militants in the area have to be trucked in from Pakistan.

Convoys carrying food and military supplies have regularly come under attack in the area.
 

Pintu

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The USA and NATO needs to find an alternative supply route immediately.
 
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U.S. Seeks New Afghan Supply Routes, Even in Iran

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/washington/12military.html

U.S. Seeks New Afghan Supply Routes, Even in Iran

By THOM SHANKER and ELISABETH BUMILLER
Published: March 11, 2009


The United States is looking for alternatives to the Khyber Pass.
The effort is aimed at developing reliable alternatives to routes through the Khyber Pass in Pakistan, where convoys have come under increasing attack by the Taliban, and to prepare for the possible loss of an important air base in Kyrgyzstan. The planning also reflects growing concern that Russia could use its clout to restrict American and allied shipments that would be passing in greater amounts through its territory on the way to staging areas in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan en route to Afghanistan.

Pentagon and military officials cautioned that the United States was not in any way considering the use of overland routes through Iran for American supplies, a politically implausible proposition given the near frozen state of relations between the United States and Iran. American officials say that recent overtures from the Obama administration toward Iran — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton last week proposed a conference on Afghanistan that would include Iran — did not encompass any use of Iranian roads.

But Pentagon and NATO planners, as part of an effort to consider every contingency, have studied Iranian routes from the port of Chabahar, on the Arabian Sea, that link with a new road recently completed by India in western Afghanistan. The route is considered shorter and safer than going through Pakistan.

“In the course of prudent planning, our military planners have looked at virtually every conceivable avenue of supplying our forces in Afghanistan,” said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary. “However, as you would expect, they have done so with an eye on logistical feasibility rather than political reality.”

The route through Iran nonetheless might be the focus of bilateral supply talks conducted by individual NATO allies that have relations with Iran, as NATO’s supreme allied commander, Gen. John Craddock, an American, suggested last month. Moreover, the Shiite government in Iran has long had testy relations with the Sunni Taliban, improving the odds that it could offer transit of supplies to NATO nations.

In an interview in February with The Associated Press, General Craddock said NATO would not oppose individual member nations’ making deals with Iran to supply their forces in Afghanistan. “Those would be national decisions,” he said. “NATO should act in a manner that is consistent with their national interest and with their ability to resupply their forces. I think it is purely up to them.”

Outlines of potential alternatives to routes through Russia emerged in greater detail this week, as the American military hosted a conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, for transportation officials and private contractors from two former Soviet republics — Azerbaijan and Georgia — and from Turkey to examine new supply routes into Afghanistan.

The route would be a west-to-east swing across the Caucasus region and into Central Asian states to the north of Afghanistan.

Officially, the United States and NATO would be expected to explain that this new route would be a supplement to other transit lines, and not intended as an antidote to potential Russian coercion as Russia takes on a greater share of supplying the Afghan mission.

“We want to avoid any danger of single-point failure, whether it’s Pakistan or Russia,” said one American military officer. “It’s simply prudent planning to have alternative lines of communication.”

Even so, any new deals for routes through former Soviet republics would diminish the Kremlin’s growing role in supplying the alliance in Afghanistan, and would be expected to frustrate the leadership in Moscow. In particular, including Georgia as part of a new route would irritate Russia.

Georgia, which fought a war last summer with Russia, is said by American officials to be eagerly seeking a role in supplying NATO troops in Afghanistan — as it desires alliance membership, and protection, and wants to do all it can to bind itself to the Atlantic alliance.

Although Russia expresses a desire to support the American and NATO mission in Afghanistan, Kremlin leaders offered large economic incentives to Kyrgyzstan to kick out the Americans from a base in Manas, just outside the Kyrgyz capital, that has been an important hub for moving troops into Afghanistan as well as a base for tanker planes.

Mr. Morrell, the Pentagon spokesman, said late Wednesday that the Kyrgyz government had agreed that American negotiators would travel there in coming days and engage in talks on extending access rights to the Manas base. The question of additional payments is expected to be central to the discussion. Even so, the Air Force is working on contingency plans to move the tanker fleet to bases in the Persian Gulf if it loses basing rights to Manas.

The Azeri capital, Baku, is emerging as a leading candidate to substitute for Manas, should the Kyrgyz government refuse to reconsider its withdrawal of the basing rights.

American and Azeri officials said that the focus of the discussions on Monday and Tuesday was a surface route that would move supplies from the Georgian port of Poti on the Black Sea and overland to Baku, where they would cross the Caspian Sea to Aktau, Kazakhstan, and then overland across Uzbekistan into Afghanistan.

A second potential route would land cargo at the Caspian seaport of Turkmenbashi, in Turkmenistan, for transit into Afghanistan. Talks on supply routes have also been held with officials in Tajikistan, another neighbor to the north of Afghanistan.

One American official said the first “trial run” of cargo containers on the new route was conducted within the last two weeks, with shipments of lumber sent from Turkey to Georgia to Azerbaijan, and then onward toward Afghanistan.

At the conference, the American military was represented by officials from the European Command, Transportation Command and Defense Logistics Agency, and officials said the talks focused only on movement of nonlethal supplies
 
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US signs Afghanistan transit deal with Tajikistan

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...n-Afghan-transit-deal/articleshow/4430484.cms

US signs Afghanistan transit deal with Tajikistan: US official
21 Apr 2009, 1722 hrs IST, AFP

DUSHANBE: The United States and Tajikistan have agreed a deal on the transit of non-military cargoes for Western operations in Afghanistan
, US
assistant secretary of state Richard Boucher said Tuesday.

"Yes, it's done," Boucher said in response to a question about the long-expected transit deal with the ex-Soviet republic that neighbours Afghanistan.

The transit of cargoes destined to support Western troops in Afghanistan could begin as soon as one month from now, Boucher said during a visit to the Tajik capital.

Washington has been seeking new routes for supplies to Afghanistan after Kyrgyzstan announced earlier this year that it was closing a key US air base, and amid increasing stability along the main transit route through Pakistan.
 

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Militants attack Nato fuel trucks near Peshawar

Thursday, 23 Apr, 2009 | 05:27 PM PST |

ISLAMABAD: Dozens of militants armed with guns and gasoline bombs attacked a truck terminal in northwest Pakistan on Thursday, burning five tanker trucks carrying fuel to Nato troops in Afghanistan, police said.

Gunmen attacked the truck depot near Peshawar before dawn, hurling gasoline bombs that set fire to the five tankers, said Abdul Khan, a local police official.

Security guards fled, and the assailants escaped before police arrived, Khan said.

Nato and the US military insist that their losses on the transport route remain minimal and have had no impact on their expanding operations in Afghanistan.

However, they have been seeking alternative routes through Central Asia.

DAWN.COM | NWFP | Militants attack Nato fuel trucks near Peshawar
 

Pintu

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^^^^ The report is a proof that how Pakistan is unsafe and as well as incapable for providing security, to NATO and coalition force's supply line.

It is really and utterly shameful that instead of putting up a resistance the security guards just fled from the scene shamelessly, paving the way for the attackers escaped.
 

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