Pakistan NATO Attacks: Dozens More Fuel Tankers Destr

[unhappycamper]

Pakistani fire fighters gather next to burning oil tankers after militants attacked a terminal in Quetta, Pakistan on Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010. Gunmen in southwestern Pakistan torched a dozen tankers carrying fuel to NATO troops and killed a driver Wednesday, police said, the latest strike against supply convoys heading for Afghanistan since Pakistan shut a key border crossing last week.


Pakistan NATO Attacks: Dozens More Fuel Tankers Destroyed, Driver Killed
ABDUL SATTAR | 10/ 6/10 04:02 AM | AP

QUETTA, Pakistan — Gunmen torched more than two dozen tankers carrying fuel to NATO troops and killed a driver Wednesday, the sixth attack on convoys taking supplies to Afghanistan since Pakistan closed a key border crossing almost a week ago.

Islamabad shut down the Torkham crossing along the fabled Khyber Pass last Thursday after a NATO helicopter attack in the border area killed three Pakistani troops. The closure has left hundreds of trucks stranded alongside the country's highways and bottlenecked traffic heading to the one route into Afghanistan from the south that has remained open.

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said an investigation of the helicopter attack was expected to be concluded later Wednesday, and that he expected the spat between allies could be resolved soon.

The U.S. has supply routes through other countries into Afghanistan, and Morrell emphasized that the Torkham closing had not caused fuel problems for NATO troops.

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Still, Pakistan is the fastest and cheapest way to get goods to Afghanistan, and trouble with other routes in the past makes it even more vital. Uzbekistan evicted U.S. troops from a base that was used to ferry supplies into Afghanistan, and last year Kyrgyzstan threatened to do the same, though it has since backed down.



unhappycamper comment: Kyrgyzstan backed down once the US offered enough moola for the Manas Air Base. That's what it's all about - money.