Foreign Correspondence

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Pakistani lorry drivers supplying Nato troops in Afghanistan go on strike
December 16, 2008


Pakistani Taleban fighters (pictured) have vowed to
step up attacks on supply convoys in the Khyber Pass
Jeremy Page in Islamabad

Hamid Karzai: we are fighting the same terrorist disease

An association of Pakistani lorry owners and drivers refused yesterday to resume delivering supplies to foreign troops in Afghanistan after a series of militant attacks on convoys plying the main supply route via the Khyber Pass.

An international shipping company that handles US military supplies through Pakistan also said that there was now "a large backlog of military freight" across the country from Karachi, where the cargo arrives by ship, to the Afghan border, "Clearly the security situation is very difficult," Kevin Speers, a spokesman for Maersk Lines Ltd, told The Times. "Movement through the Pass has been severely restricted."

Pakistani authorities closed the Khyber Pass route nine days ago after militants carried out their biggest attack yet on the supply line, torching around 260 vehicles on two consecutive nights in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
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There were another three smaller attacks in Peshawar last week.

Pakistan's Government re-opened the route yesterday, hoping to restore a lifeline that accounts for about 70 per cent of all supplies to the 67,000 Nato, US and other foreign troops in Afghanistan.

But the Khyber Transport Association, which claims to represent the owners of 3,500 trucks, tankers and other vehicles, said that its members would no longer ply the route because of the recent security problems.

"They're on strike," said a representative of one large Pakistani haulage company that handles supplies to foreign troops in Afghanistan.

"It's because of the security situation," he told The Times. "No trucks crossed the border [yesterday], but we hope to move about 30-40 across tomorrow."

He said that the association represented about 60 per cent of the lorry owner-drivers who work on the route from Peshawar, via the Khyber Pass and the border town of Torkham to Kabul, the Afghan capital.

The strike came as US President George Bush made a surprise visit to Afghanistan, warning of a "long struggle" ahead amid plans to deploy another 20,000 American troops to the country.

Nato and US officials admit that they are concerned about the recent attacks but insist they are insignificant in strategic terms, and have had no effect on military operations in Afghanistan.

"Our logistics people at Nato are aware of the strike," Lieutenant Commander James Gater, a spokesman for Nato-led forces in Afghanistan, told The Times.

"The Khyber Association is on strike but the flow of trucks of Nato equipment across Torkham has been relatively good. This has not had any impact on our operations, nor has this had any impact on our logistical effort. They don't provide the majority of our goods."

However, military analysts and logistics specialists say that a stoppage of more than two weeks could start to affect operations on the ground — as well as hampering efforts to distribute food aid.

Even when the route reopens, the Frontier Corps, which provides armed escorts for the convoys, can take only about 80 trucks a day — 20 at a time — compared to about 300-400 a day before the attacks began.

The Pakistani haulage firms that handle the supplies say that last week's attacks have caused a backlog of more than 1,000 containers in Peshawar, and increased haulage costs by up to 70 per cent.

Truck drivers are now demanding 100,000 Pakistani rupees (£865) to drive from Peshawar to Bagram Airbase, just outside Kabul, compared with 60,000 rupees (£513) before the security problems began last month, sources in the firms say.

Pakistani authorities have now told haulage companies to move their cargo terminals outside Peshawar and into the central province of Punjab, they say.

Most Nato and US supplies are currently shipped into Karachi and driven to Peshawar, where they wait overnight before being driven on to Kabul via the Khyber Pass the next day.

Some are driven from Karachi to southern Afghanistan via the border town of Chaman — but that route is also considered unsafe because of the strong Taleban presence around the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.

Nato and Russian officials told The Times last week that Nato planned to open a new supply route through Russia and the Central Asian states of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan within two months.

Nato and the United States are also in talks on opening a third route through Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to prevent Russia from gaining a stranglehold on supplies to Afghanistan.

General David McKiernan, commander of Nato-led troops in Afghanistan, revealed on Sunday that most fuel for foreign forces in Afghanistan already comes from Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

The US military also confirmed that it receives 350,000 gallons (1.6 million litres) of fuel via Afghanistan's northern neighbours.

"As a military leader I think it's very important to have multiple lines of re-supply, but I would also say that's very important for the future economic interests of Afghanistan as well," General McKiernan said.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5344612.ece