NATO trucks stranded as Pakistan closes border
Source: Agencies |
November 28, 2011, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
Hundreds of trucks carrying supplies to US-led troops in Afghanistan backed up at Pakistani border crossings yesterday, leaving them vulnerable to militant attack a day after Islamabad closed the frontier in retaliation for coalition airstrikes said to have killed 24 Pakistani troops.
As Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani attended the funerals of the victims, including a major, the United States sought to minimize the fallout from the crisis, which plunged Washington's already troubled relationship with Islamabad to an all-time low.
Pakistan also ordered the US to vacate an air base that is used by American drones to target al-Qaida and Taliban militants in the country's tribal region along the Afghan border. The US has relied heavily on drone strikes in the past few years.
Tensions could rise further if militants attack the stranded trucks ferrying NATO supplies to Afghanistan.
Suspected militants destroyed around 150 trucks and injured drivers and police a year ago after Pakistan closed one of its Afghan border crossings to NATO supplies for about 10 days in retaliation for a US helicopter attack that accidentally killed two Pakistani soldiers.
The situation could be more dire this time because Pakistan, outraged at the alleged NATO attack before dawn on Saturday, has closed both its crossings. Nearly 300 trucks carrying coalition supplies are now backed up at Torkham in the northwest Khyber tribal area and Chaman in southwestern Baluchistan province. Last year, Pakistan only closed Torkham.
NATO ships nearly 50 percent of its non-lethal supplies to its troops in Afghanistan through Pakistan.
Tattered alliance
Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday that the NATO attack negated all progress in improving the tattered alliance between the two countries.
She told Clinton in a phone call that the NATO attack was unacceptable, showed complete disregard for human life and sparked rage within Pakistan, according to a press release issued by the Pakistani prime minister's office.
In addition to closing its border crossings, Pakistan gave the US 15 days to vacate Shamsi Air Base in Baluchistan. The US uses the base to service drones when they cannot return to their bases inside Afghanistan because of weather conditions or mechanical difficulty, US and Pakistani officials said.
The Pakistani army said on Saturday that NATO helicopters and fighter jets carried out an "unprovoked" attack on two of its border posts in the Mohmand tribal area before dawn, killing 24 soldiers and wounding 13 others.
Pakistan held funerals for the soldiers yesterday at the army's headquarters in Peshawar, the most important city in the country's northwest.
A spokesman for NATO forces, Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson, said that Afghan and coalition troops were operating in the border area of eastern Afghanistan when "a tactical situation" prompted them to call in close air support.
NATO's top official, Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, offered his "deepest condolences" and said the coalition was committed to working with Pakistan to "avoid such tragedies in future."
As Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani attended the funerals of the victims, including a major, the United States sought to minimize the fallout from the crisis, which plunged Washington's already troubled relationship with Islamabad to an all-time low.
Pakistan also ordered the US to vacate an air base that is used by American drones to target al-Qaida and Taliban militants in the country's tribal region along the Afghan border. The US has relied heavily on drone strikes in the past few years.
Tensions could rise further if militants attack the stranded trucks ferrying NATO supplies to Afghanistan.
Suspected militants destroyed around 150 trucks and injured drivers and police a year ago after Pakistan closed one of its Afghan border crossings to NATO supplies for about 10 days in retaliation for a US helicopter attack that accidentally killed two Pakistani soldiers.
The situation could be more dire this time because Pakistan, outraged at the alleged NATO attack before dawn on Saturday, has closed both its crossings. Nearly 300 trucks carrying coalition supplies are now backed up at Torkham in the northwest Khyber tribal area and Chaman in southwestern Baluchistan province. Last year, Pakistan only closed Torkham.
NATO ships nearly 50 percent of its non-lethal supplies to its troops in Afghanistan through Pakistan.
Tattered alliance
Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday that the NATO attack negated all progress in improving the tattered alliance between the two countries.
She told Clinton in a phone call that the NATO attack was unacceptable, showed complete disregard for human life and sparked rage within Pakistan, according to a press release issued by the Pakistani prime minister's office.
In addition to closing its border crossings, Pakistan gave the US 15 days to vacate Shamsi Air Base in Baluchistan. The US uses the base to service drones when they cannot return to their bases inside Afghanistan because of weather conditions or mechanical difficulty, US and Pakistani officials said.
The Pakistani army said on Saturday that NATO helicopters and fighter jets carried out an "unprovoked" attack on two of its border posts in the Mohmand tribal area before dawn, killing 24 soldiers and wounding 13 others.
Pakistan held funerals for the soldiers yesterday at the army's headquarters in Peshawar, the most important city in the country's northwest.
A spokesman for NATO forces, Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson, said that Afghan and coalition troops were operating in the border area of eastern Afghanistan when "a tactical situation" prompted them to call in close air support.
NATO's top official, Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, offered his "deepest condolences" and said the coalition was committed to working with Pakistan to "avoid such tragedies in future."
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