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Pakistan supply line attacks show US vulnerability

* Drivers say attacks on trucks carrying NATO supplies appear to have spiked

ISLAMABAD: The Humvee sped along the dry riverbed, kicking up clouds of dust. But Al Qaeda-linked militants – not American soldiers – were behind the wheel.

The scene was captured by AP Television News shortly after about 60 Taliban in northwestern Pakistan hijacked a convoy of trucks carrying vehicles for US troops in Afghanistan and wheat for hungry Afghans.

The bold, well-planned attack on Monday highlighted the vulnerability of the supply line US and NATO troops rely on for up to 75 percent of their fuel, food and other logistical goods in the landlocked country.

NATO is close to reaching deals with Central Asian countries north of Afghanistan that would allow the alliance to truck in “non-lethal” supplies from there, a spokesman said.

But for now, the only major land routes to the country are two mountainous roads through Pakistan. “It’s not too much of a stretch to ask why the Pakistan military is failing to defend these convoys,” said Shaun Gregory from the Pakistan Security Research Unit at the University of Bradford. “These attacks allow Pakistan to keep its finger on NATO’s jugular.”

Increasing attacks: Truck drivers say ambushes, looting and hijackings appeared to have spiked recently, but a NATO spokesman said the attacks were having “no impact” on its operations in Afghanistan.

In Washington, two US officials said neither equipment nor ammunition were running short. The supplies arrive at the Karachi port in anonymous, sealed shipping containers and are loaded onto trucks for the journey either to Chaman or the primary route, through Khyber Pass.

Monday’s ambush took place at the entrance to the pass. US officials say the attackers seized two Humvees and a water truck. Eleven other trucks carrying wheat for the World Food Programme were also hijacked, said spokesman Amjad Jamal, adding, “Whatever they see going along the road, they loot and burn.” Many, perhaps most, of the attackers are bandits rather than Taliban. In markets in Khyber, US and NATO supplies such as boots, camouflage uniforms and rucksacks are openly sold.

Hard-line Muslim leaders and many ordinary Pakistanis want their government to sever its alliance with the US. The government says it had no plans to deny permission for US and NATO to truck the goods through its territory as some here demand.

In Karachi, truck drivers recount tales of threats and regular attacks during the four-day trip to Afghanistan. “I am terrified each time I get past Peshawar, danger looms large,” said Khan Zeb, who was preparing to make another trip. “I don’t have any other option if I want to feed my family.” ap

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