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Subscribe to RSSISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Jan Mohammed led me across the muddy yard packed with burned and still smoldering fuel tankers.
"If we don't have any security, how can we go up there?” he asked. “Nobody will drive and take fuel to NATO. It's impossible."
He was referring to the Khyber Pass in Pakistan's northwest, a key route for supplies heading to the war in Afghanistan.
Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images
Pakistani drivers sit on a burnt out NATO supply oil tanker Monday morning after an attack on the outskirts of Islamabad.
Three charred shells of former oil tanker trucks belonged to him. "First they burned the tires," he said, and then flayed his arms around to illustrate the inferno that followed.
His drivers had been sleeping in their cabs, but ran to safety when they heard the first shots fired by about a dozen gunmen, who arrived on motorcycles during the pre-dawn attack on Monday.
Others were not so luckily. At least four died in the attack, and many more were injured. Yet few of them seemed surprised by what had happed.
Sitting ducks
"No security," said one driver, shaking his head, his arm bandaged from when he had fallen while escaping. That sentiment was echoed by several others who were victimized by the attack. One truck driver had salvaged two small mango plants from the shell of his cab, which he picked up along the route and planned to take home with him.
There were 55 tankers lined up in the group, some 20 of which were damaged in Monday’s attack. They had parked just outside Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, forced to wait – like sitting ducks, in hindsight – because of the closure of the border by the Pakistani authorities.
One driver pointed with disdain at a housing complex across the road, one of several large areas here reserved for military officers. "Maybe they came from there," he said. Apparently it’s not only the Americans who sometimes wonder where the Pakistani military stands on the ongoing conflict.
The Pakistan authorities say they don't have the manpower to secure the convoys, which are not their responsibility anyway. The Pakistan authorities say it is up to the contractors to sort out their own security.
Dangerous supply route
Pakistan is the main route for non-lethal supplies for U.S and allied forces fighting in Afghanistan. It can take days for supply vehicles to travel up from the port in Karachi, across Pakistan, and into Afghanistan. There are two main border crossing points, one to the south, in Baluchistan, and the other at the end of the Khyber Pass in Pakistan's northwest.
It is this second crossing that was closed by Pakistan late last week, in an apparent response to a border incursion by NATO helicopter gunships, which killed three Pakistani border guards. On Monday, NATO expressed regret for last week’s helicopter attack, saying the casualties were “unintended.”
Attacks on convoys are not uncommon, but it seems to have become open season since the border closure backed up hundreds of tankers and trucks. There have been at least five attacks on the supply convoys since the border was closed. The latest attack happened on Tuesday when a small bomb damaged a truck that was parked alongside about 100 other trucks waiting to cross into Afghanistan. However, the bomb failed to ignite the fuel, and there were no casualties.
Ian Williams/ NBC News
The tankers attacked just outside Islamabad Monday.
The Pakistan government says the border will be open "soon," but has given no firm date. Meantime, the supply route to Afghanistan remains dangerously exposed.
It also comes at a time when drone attacks in the tribal areas are running at record levels. These are not popular among Pakistanis, though the government has been willing to turn a blind eye.
But analysts say the Pakistanis want to send a message to Washington – they can't be taken for granted and won't tolerate flagrant border violations.
Meantime, though, Jan Mohammed surveyed the charred remains of what had been a lucrative business.
"Afghanistan's at war," he said, "but our tankers are safer on that side of the border."
Related link: New York Times: 'U.S. military orders less dependence on fossile fuels'
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Remove our troops and NUKE the entire area, problem solved. We have no bussiness there.
I agree. It would certainly send a message to the rest of the muslim world that we are willing to use whatever means necessary when our interests are threatened. I'm tired of hearing about dead Americans murdered by fanatics or of governments who take our foreign aid and then act in concert with our enemies. Pakistan is not an area of the world producing food or anything else of value. It would be a good place to make the stand.
Why do we keep letting the Middle East run over us? We allow our "allies" to close their border whenever they choose? It sounds like they are really helping us in this "war on terror." How much money have we given Pakistan in the last several years? I guess it wasn't enough for them to keep the borders open! I say give us our billions back, or get nuked? We're tired of "working with" you.
Amadennajhad (Iran's president) keeps ridiculing us, taunting us, and is relentless in his pursuit of nuclear "power plants." He's a live wire. All he needs is a bad day and a nuclear weapon at his disposal and we are all gone off the planet.
We are so concerned with being "politically correct," or trying to not hurt anyone's feelings, not profiling Middle Eastern airplane passengers, letting them build their "holy mosque" on top of Ground Zero, but we have to take down the 10 commandments in courthouses all across the nation because it may "offend someone." Give me a break! Nuke them! Enough is enough.
Okay, so lets just @!$%#in leave this @!$%#hole. No more aid, no more food, clothes, medical supplies.... NO MORE MONEY. @!$%# 'em, let 'em rot. No need to nuke 'em. They'll drive themselves into the ground where they seem happiest anyway. Wallowing in dirt and self-pity.
Sorry, tried to help ya, but oh well. The taliban nutbags @!$%#ed it up for the rest of you!
Only a foolish person would suggest nukes.
Durn, Pakistan and Afghanistan are hellholes. I hope people count their blessings everyday that live in the USA. We don't need to let the Islamic heathens turn our country into this, and if we don't do something about it soon, they will.
So when things get tough... genocide?
Way to group in a bunch of innocent people with terrorists and insurgents.
Don't you realize how ironic that statement is? Terrorists attack civilians based on that same kind of rationality.
First even if Iran got a nuke, they do not have the deliverysystem to hit American soil,, only America still has ICBMs, 2000+ to be almost exact. Why worry about Iran, Israel has 103 nukes, we gave them, and they CAN hit Iran, and Pakistan and Egypt. they can hit anyone in the region.the last supplier of oil and gas in Iraq, walked away with 2.5 Billion in profit.i think we pay enough for them to hire there own security, but the border must open, or we must surge past it, and open it ourselves. We are not at war with Muslims or need to worry about us being like them that's what you get when you outsource. I do agree thou without the %%^%& that we need to leave COMPLETELY,monetarily,politically and the whole shabang just for once leave completely we can watch from our 102 acre Embassy in Iraq!
Castrating the Paki Army (confinement to barracks) and 'no fly' order for Paki Air force will be enough. They are a bunch of cowards. There is no need to nuke the country for now. Save it for later, if needed.
Nukes would be a bad idea, it would irradiate all the titanium ore in Afganistan the rest of the world wants. No we should do what Britan did to clean out its prisons. Load up every killer, rapist, death row and 3rd time looser in to cargo plans and throw them out with a parachute, 2 bottles of water. Have a cache of weapons on the ground waiting for them. "If you take the country its yours".
This would put 100,000 mean ass mofo's in to the frey.
See how they like us then.
Nobody87413
They wouldn't need ICBM, they simply load the nukes on a cargo ship, get as close as they can to the US, and use any type of missle, that will hold a nuke.
So none of you calling for "nuking" the area will have any problems with seeing emaciated ibodies of babies. How about dismembered toddlers. How about pregnant women and old men dead in the rubble of their houses with flies buzzing about them.....would that be okay with you.
Now you same chest thumpers calling for mass murder...can you tell me what is the difference between folks we call terrorists and we the good guys? I bet most of you could not even hold down your lunch if you saw casualties of war first hand. We do not allow pictures of our own casualties.
You know we still talk about Hiroshima and Nagasaki.....interestingly we are the only ones on the planet that have used nukes against a civilian populous.
It's time we get out of places we do not belong.
We stayed in Vietnam 10% because we wanted to defeat communism, 20% because we wanted to stand up to the Chinese and 70% because we wanted to save face. Governments lie, military exaggerates......ultimately it's the many with a conscience and moral compass who rise up and say "enough is enough".
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!
Shawn,
I would rather see "them" dead then "us"! So to answer your question- no problems, not really!
Your right, enough is enough! How long are we going to play "patty cake" with these murdering isalmic thugs? Time to do something, even if it's wrong (according to the rest of the world).
Tex if we use cooler heads and take a look at the root cause of terrorism we can find saner solutions to this mass killing and destruction. "They want us dead" is a neocon war mongers mantra. To make"them" sound "mighty and venomous" is the neocon rhetoric to justify endless wars. If we were let in on the truth we would be throwing the neocons over board.
If this about vengeance we have done enough. If this about saving our republic....it is in no danger from outsiders. If this about culling places on the planet where people who don't see eye to eye with us gather......it's a foolish bankrupting exercise. Our present course plays exactly into the hands of people who want us gone. We have less freedom on our own land, we are going broke and our moral compass is in grave danger.
We need a sane foreign policy, we need to be honest peace brokers on the planet, we need to dislodge lobbies from our land whose allegiances lie else where. We need not befriend people whose actions bring terror to our door. We need to re-examine who we provide economic and military aid to. Peaceful and honorable solution in the Middle East goes a long way to curtailing most of terrorism directed at us.
@ chris
At this point these attacks have not been on a large enough scale to makes a significant impact on the amount of supplies actually reaching troops in Afghanistan. Granted if the Pakistani government decided to really make things difficult by holding up supplies through the Khyber Pass indefinitely it would probably make it more expensive to provide non-lethal supplies to troops there by using alternative routes. At this point it seems that both sides believe that the pass will open soon.
I'm not sure how you can compare the situation in Afghanistan and Japan in WWII either. Deciding to use nuclear weapons against Japan arguably might have saved lives when considering how many casualties would have been inflicted on both sides through a long drawn out land war on mainland Japan. Some U.S. estimates at the time put the numbers well over 1,000,000+. Right or wrong using nuclear weapons in that case in much more debatable.
The fact of the matter is you seem to be suggesting that we nuke a country containing 170 million people, an ally, which is also a nuclear power, over something which in comparison is a much smaller scale problem is absolutely ridiculous. In addition the backlash from such an action would undoubtedly label the U.S. a rogue nation and turn most of the world against us.
These are very real concerns not Politically Correct BS even if you didn't have a problem murdering countless innocent civilians to make it cheaper to ship non-lethal supplies to Afghanistan.
If you are so concerned about saving American lives in Afghanistan and around the world please refrain from advocating the start of nuclear war with Pakistan.
Fat man and little boy are long gone folks, we have better stuff now days. Ever heard of a "tactical nuke"? Smaller and much more precise, we can put one right down the entrance to a cave for example. Or if you want to flatten the whole city get a little bigger one that goes off a little above the ground. I'm just sayin! The bottom line for me is this crap has been going on for way too long, time to get off our a$$es and fight to win or get out, troops are deing everyday for nothing seems to me, because we are still talking about the same issues and problems for 9 YEARS! Come on man! Get it together folks (Washington!)
Yep, it's good to know we have such a wonderful 'ally' in our war on terror. Afghanistan hasn't been worth a single life on either side since the US missed its opportunity to capture bin laden and Omar...but the fact that this blockade that was imposed by Pakistan lasted more than an hour is just flat out embarrassing for the US.
Also,...I like how the Pakistani military has taken the position of 'not my job' when it comes to going after militants inside of Pakistan. Ungrateful SOBs
Certainly sounds like Pakistan has picked their side, and it isn't with NATO. I say forget 'em. They want to lay down with al Qaeda and terrorists? LET THEM! They'll figure out soon enough it was the wrong choice.
Fred the Dutch left, Canadians are leaving, Brit is next and many others. Time to get Laden was when W had his chance. Call it whatever we want but it's time to get out.
This boarder crossing will reopen soon. That's Islamic for, you had better find another way to get supplies to your troops.
How about airlifting supplies and logistics. NATO and the U.S. have gigantic Navies and Air Forces. Stop depending on the third wheel that has little purpose. Enough of this Clinton style army with out-sourcing and put it back to the functional machine that it was designed to be.
To answer your question, I think it's b/c you have to look at things from a cost ratio standpoint.
Just about every single piece of military equipment currently being used in Afghanistan, with the exception of predator drones, eats up a TON of gas even if they're not being pushed hard and the only efficient way to get the kind of amounts that are needed to keep operations moving at full speed is via ground delivery based on nothing but the available access points. This isn't even taking into account all of the generators that have to be run across the country for various military purposes.
On top of that, I'd be willing to bet that individuals within the ISI tipped off their militant counterparts ahead of the blockade to give them time to setup precise ambushes once there was only one way for the unguarded supplies to travel.
The bottom line is that the US isn't securing it's supply routes and has left itself exposed as its pushing forward...unfortunately, that's a rather basic lesson taught in even the most rudimentary officer training classes and somehow the people in charge make it look like they have absolutely no idea what they're doing atm. It's all very embarrassing to be honest.
Are you saying the Department of Environmental Protection would deny a license to operate military vehicles because of lousy gas mileage!
Shame on the USA, wasting the very product it is fighting for.
Have you been in the military, Nate ? Just curious. (I haven't.)
A new Respect for truck drivers. If it can happen to NATO it can happen to you
Time to cut and run. UN sanctions against Pakistan for collaborating with Al Qaeda. Shut off trade routes into and out of Afghanistan and install a puppet government with UN officials overseeing the country.
How about cutting off all aid to Pak until the border opens this government and military suck dollars down so fast that cutting them off would cause quick suffocation or even quicker opening of the border
Just a few involved with the Khyber Pass over the years. One would think, a powerful nation like the United States, could maintain security for fuel transport.
Personally, I hope Afghanistan keeps the border closed, permanently. Stand up to Obama, refuse to be intimidated. Drones, unpersonalized vehicles, controlled by the CIA from thousands of miles away, act indiscriminately. With no hard intelligence, a situation involving someone in charge, who may be having a "bad hair" day, issuing commands, affecting lives dependent on a "best guess" situation.
You idiots don't seem to realize that we aren't at war with Pakistan, so your solution to the problem calling for us to invade and station troops throughout Pakistan to protect the NATO supply lines is rather stupid, not to even mention the moronic idea that we should "Nuke them" that was made by several of you fools. No wonder America gets into stupid wars, we're populated with stupid people.
The problem is that we are at "war" with no one. If we can't beat a bunch of rag tag Taliban in 8 years, then we either aren't fighting or we don't know how to fight. There's no other explanation. Some generals need to be fired. We beat the Japanese and Germans in 4 years and somehow can't beat the Taliban? Patton is laughing in his grave.
Pakistan is providing a safe haven to the Taliban. As long as this safe haven is not made unsafe for them, NATO can not win this war. Pakistan must be 'neutered' if this can not be done, the US should simply accept defeat and go home.
Enzo- It's an entirely different kind of war, that's the explanation. It's not incompetence or apathy. You come up with a better way to fight an enemy that dresses & looks just like the civilians and hides among them. If this had been a war like the ones in days past, it would have been over in 60 days.
I agree with you on the "Nuke them" idea. I wonder if any of you people actually think about what would happen if we did that?
time to stop sending aid to pakistan, after all, they have nukes, and if they can afford them and the projects, they don't need aid.
Wow! Thank God you people who just say nuke 'em aren't in any position of power. Â Holy hell! Â Do you understand the ramifications of nuking one of the few "allies" (I use that term loosely) in that entire region? Â Besides the fact that it is completely unprovoked and without basis on any level, it is just plain idiotic. Â If we nuke them then the rest of that region with anyone even slightly pro-American will shun us for good, with the exception of Israel. Â So that means Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, Egypt, Turkey, maybe even a few European countries, will have the right to say we are warmongers, and we have no counter argument, let alone the fact that Saudi Arabia controls the majority of the OIL that we use here. Â So that's right keep saying we should nuke 'em then cry later that we have @!$%#ed up any credibility and civility that America has earned through just actions, and restraint, let alone the fact that America is dead as a nation because a gallon of gas will be $100 if not more. Â So shut your mouths and think a little bit before you speak. Â
Yeah that is somewhat true but Saudi should be the first ones "nuked" then we could have all their oil we wanted!
Tex Rat are you taking up permanent residence in Crawford :)
Sorry Bro but really your time is up. Ride the rocking horse on the front porch and forget about nuking anyone.
Yes, I'm GW's brother in law, didn't you know? :)
Seriously, I really don't want to nuke anyone but I have had enough of folks that wouldn't be nothing without us running us down and trying to kill us. Start out with convetional then if that doesn't get the attention....
It's really interesting to see all of these comments and note that not one of them talks about Obama. When Bush was in office he was responsible for EVERYTHING no matter how small or unconnected to him. Now, after having basically having destroyed Bush, people seem to think Obama is not really at fault for anything that's going on here. Not to mention we have several people who can't understand why something similar to what Bush did hasn't been done. Obama said that Iraq was the wrong war, and that this war was the one that we should have been fighting. He talked tough on this war and he talked tough on Pakistan. He mention quite a few times how he would not tolerate being an obstacle to our fighting the war in Afghanistan. Does anyone remember any of this? There would have been no problem remembering it if we were talking about Bush, I'm sure. Well, what has Obama done? He continued the use of drones and...........then he................uh.......oh, that's right he hasn't done anything. He talked tough, but in reality we're just going to let Pakistan screw us over while we give them money. This is all irrelevant anyway. The tough talk was just political rhetoric. Obama never had any intention of winning this war or any other war. He did his best to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in Iraq. It's already been said by sources close to the president that he is just looking for a way out. All of people who died in this war will have died for nothing, and the Taliban and Al Qaida will just start training camps, and planning and implementing attacks with from Afghanistan all over again. Only this time the world doesn't have to worry about "illegal" and "unjust" wars. We will just sit idly by watching attack after attack while Obama and the U.N. use "diplomacy". After all, it worked so well with Saddam, and it's worked so well with Ahmadinejad and with Syria.
Gee Concerned Citizen: Should I assume you disapprove of President Obama's performance while executing the duties of his office? Everyone should know by now that President Obama is bad for the United States. You can't win. It's like the Vegas casinos. The deck is stacked in his favor because he has the race card. I agree with you Mr. Citizen; everything is President Obama's fault. (p.s. don't tell anyone but I heard he's also a LIBERAL.)
The U.S. should reimburse the truck owners for their losses, then deduct that amount from the welfare checks we are sending the the thieves running Pakistan.
I read the frustration, anger, and feelings of helplessness here as it regards our foreign policy. Well listen folks, take a portion of the time you spend on the Vine venting, and give some to your House and Senate representatives. Foreign Aid is an appropriation that has to be voted on and approved by the House. The internet has provided the common citizen with an easy way to keep track of how well you are being represented by your elected officials....use it. The government is giving away YOUR money to countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mexico, and a whole list of other countries that actively work against our interests!! Stop the madness and elect people with some common sense and a moral compass.
As for Pakistan and Afghan...pull out and let them all go to hell.
This sounds like a job for ... dun-da-DA ... Blackwell to the rescue. Why not? They picked the "low hanging fruit." Have them climb a little higher. Pay for the oil but they've got to deliver it, at the agreed price. (No Re-Do's) Sue their a$$ if they don't deliver.
America should respond by placing old grumpy Republican Senator John McCain behind the wheel of one of those tankers along with John Boehner and Mitch McConnell and make them earn their Cadillac health care plans the American taxpayers have been paying for all these years.
Did you intentionally leave out Nancy PeePee, Harry Reid, Charlie Rangel, Maxine Ebonics Waters, Barney Frank-up-my-....?? Or was that just an oversight on your unbiased part?? I certainly agree with your statement, but would expand it to include EVERY do nothing, corrupt, lying, self-serving, egocentric, azzhole in WDC....and that includes pretty much EVERY one of them.
NATO is a "do nothing organization anyway. Get the USA out of the Middle East. Let Pakistan defend themselves.
send in haliburton, glad we did not have this much trouble in iraq
It seems that the Pakistan government does not care what happens inside its own borders, why should we care about the Pakistan government. In bed with Taliban, so be it. To really see if the government of Pakistan, has the balls, tell them no more US aid. They want aid, go ask the UN. See where that gets them. What ever aid packages that are currently in place, starting right now, reduce by 50% every year. 8 billion now becomes 4 billion, down to 2 , down to 1. That will get the Pakistan government's attention. The Pakistan military will suffer the most. Their problem not ours, says the Pakistan government. Ok fine. Not a problem. Sorry we are reducing your aid Pakistan, but not our problem.
Everyone doesn't see the elephant in the room. We're on a Crusade. Onward christian soldiers...blah blah blah. They are on a jihad. Kill the infidel...blah blah blah. Right. Our problem is a clash of civilizations and religions. We've got to quit fighting over old books from the days of superstition and folklore. Mythological thinking keeps us chained to the past. Want to see a miracle? Look around you and see what man has made from rocks, trees, and everything that was around. Want to see horror? Look what people will do in the name of god. Only quests for knowledge have made life better. Peace.
You may be fighting for an old book but in my mind I'm fighting becuase "they" blew up 3,000 folks on September 11, 2001. Anyone remember that?
So instead of fighting you would rather we get wiped out? You aren't some brave person taking a stand for peace, you're advocating suicide as a nation and civilization. You ignore human nature.
Eventually either people over here will get so mad that we do something really severe, or if not, we will allow ourselves to be wrecked by those in the enemy movement who worship genocide, murder and terrorism and who are enabled by those who try to handcuff the US and our allies. The way to prevent either course is to take intelligent, decisive action now, which the politically correct crowd is standing in the way of.
Remember how the same crowd saying this war cannot be won said Iraq was lost until the surge and the Iraqi people rising up smashed Al Quaeda in Iraq? The war can be won, it is not a question of technical ability, but the guts in the government to do it.
This is a test of wills between the U.S. and Pakistan. The increased U.S. bombing in Pakistan was a deliberate message by the Obama administration to Pakistan: "Kill all of your Taliban, or we will do it!" But now the echo of that message is coming back from Pakistan, and it is not really sweet music to Obama ears! And the situation can only get worse, because all the Pakistanis know now that the people in their government are getting rich themselves from the U.S. aid in return for allowing the U.S. to kill all anti-American militants in their country.
Can a government allow the U.S. to continue the killing of anti-American militants in a country where the population is 94% hostile to the U.S?
Well, event in the future will tell us. But at a time that most Pakistanis expected the U.S.to concentrate all of its efforts to help
the millions Pakistan's flood victims, the U.S. grabbed the diversion created by the widespread flood tragedy to increase the bombing in Pakistan!
Then, the headlines came on the Pakistani newspapers: Are we allies, or enemies?" The answer: The Pakistanis see the U.S. as the enemy, and they don't really care about the U.S. aid. As the Pakistani newspaper "Dawn" said in an editorial on may 26, 2009. "The U.S. aid is lining a few pockets in Pakistan, and very little is reaching the poor people." The people just in live in terror 24/7. A Pakistani villages told reporters recently: "You don't know where to stand, because you don't know where the next [U.S. Predator drone] missile is going to hit," on quote.
Now the situation is Pakistan has reached this critical point: "Can those in the Pakistani government, who "line their pockets with the U.S. aid"
in return for allowing the U.S. to bomb militant Pakistanis, stay in power until the U.S. accept defeat in Afghanistan? Well, the Pakistani army will have the final say. I won't be surprised if there is a military coup in Pakistan along the lines of the late general Zia U-Haq who forced "Sharia [Islamic] law" in Pakistan. I am sure there are generals in the Pakistani army that don't like what their higher ups and politicians allow the U.S. to do on Pakistani soil. I am sure the U.S. has opened a Pandora's Box in Pakistan, as I am sure that there are
serious arguments now inside the Pakistani government on whether it should "surrender" all of its national interests in order to help the U.S. save face in Afghanistan. And if the U.S. continues to plant bombs in Pakistan hoping to harvest an Afghanistan war victory from them, the fools in Washington who think so are certainly fooling themselves. Nikos Retsos, retired professor
Looks like a big contract is going to Russian business men to ship supplies to Afghanistan.
Pakistani transportation businesses may take a huge financial hit this year for their lax security.
Business is business.