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With a Little Help From Your Friends

November 17, 2008 2:35 PM

By NICK SCHIFRIN, ABC News, Islamabad

After stopping the lifeline of America’s troops in Afghanistan for the second time in three months, the Pakistani government has reopened the military supply line that goes from Karachi to Kabul. From here on out, though, there will be one, major difference: NATO/U.S./U.N. supply trucks will be traveling in groups of 25 and they will be protected by as many as 200 security forces, according to the local government head in Pakistan’s Khyber Agency.

In the seven years since the war in Afghanistan began -- during which time as much as 80 percent of the equipment used there has traveled through Pakistan – never before has the supply line been escorted by Pakistani troops. The group of 200 men deployed as escorts and along the road will come from the Frontier Corps, which patrols in the tribal areas, as well as the Hasadar Force, basically the local police. The escort will begin as the trucks enter Khyber (just past Peshawar) and continue until they pass through the Torkham border crossing, about 30 miles away.

The decision to add escorts was made after a group of Taliban hijacked 12 trucks last week and took joyrides in an American humvee, posing for the cameras as they did so. Not a pretty sight for the U.S. and ISAF command in Afghanistan.

Talk to the military in Afghanistan and they’ll insist that the vast majority of their supplies are getting through. And they’re right. But the fact is that the supply line has never been more exposed, and it is the red line in the U.S. relationship with Pakistan.

November 17, 2008 in Nick Schifrin | Permalink | User Comments (0)

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