12 more Nato containers torched in Pakistan

[Sana Saudagar]

12 more Nato containers torched in Pakistan

Saturday, December 13, 2008

By Javed Aziz Khan

PESHAWAR: Twelve more containers were reduced to ashes in a parking lot on the Ring Road here early on Friday morning in the fifth attack on the Nato logistics since December 1, prompting the authorities to deploy Frontier Constabulary paramilitary troops at the transport terminals to secure supplies.

There were reports that five rockets were fired at the Port World Logistic and the VSF Terminal, a parking lot transshipping containers to Afghanistan that was attacked for the third time in less than two weeks.

Firing of automatic weapons and shots were also heard after the explosions at around 2:30 am. Sources said 12 containers were gutted in the rocket attack while police officials confirmed torching of only five containers. Around 300 containers, military trucks, trailers and Humvees have been set on fire by militants in five attacks since December 1.

Fire erupted inside the Port World Logistics and the VSF Terminal soon after the blast. Apart from heavy contingents of police, fire brigade staff rushed to the spot to extinguish the fire. They, however, succeeded in putting out the rising flames after hectic efforts till 8 am.

A police official at the scene told newsmen that there was probably some chemical in the containers that was why the fire could not be extinguished instantly. The Friday attack came only five hours after five explosions were heard in another parking lot having Nato military vehicles and containers in Hazarkhwani.

It has been learnt that some senior police officials have proposed to temporarily shift container terminals from Ring Road to any safer place. Over a dozen terminals are located on both sides of the Ring Road between GT Road and Bara Road, without having any proper security arrangements.

Police are investigating as to which gang, or gangs, were behind attacks on Nato logistics. Outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader, Hakeemullah Mahsud, had threatened to target Nato convoys if the US drones did not stop attacks on the Pakistani soil.

http://thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=18930

[Ordie]

It's time to work with the Russians in setting up a railroad connection between Europe and Afghanistan.

[C.Fodder]

This is an extremely worrying trend.
better security and alternative routes need to be implemented post haste.

The b#st@rds have hit a lot of supplies recently,hope the troops on the ground aren't having to go short. :(

[WarDancer]

Something tells me the Paki govt. has some involvement in this.

[VAMAN]

Something tells me the Paki govt. has some involvement in this.
They surely have. But they will deny it like always.

[D4ark]

^^ Then why dont we just move every soldier on afghan border to indan border and start a war???

Im tellin ya thats what i would do if i were to be involved in this type of thing

[Military-G]

^^ Then why dont we just move every soldier on afghan border to indan border and start a war???

Im tellin ya thats what i would do if i were to be involved in this type of thing

I never realised there was such a simple sollution :roll:

[D4ark]

You ppl have no idea how much the taliban(house,girl school,high school burners not to mention downright stupids who dont even read the quran and directly violate islamic law)have caused damaged here they turned the most beautiful place in Pakistan into a war zone! and ppl like Vaman here think we support them

[Military-G]

I think everyone knows the damage they have done hence them being universally condemned and hated however how does a war between pakistan and india create any good? The amount of lives that would be lost, not to mention the nuclear problem that would rear its ugly head.

:|

[D4ark]

^ Actually that was just some sarcasm to show that we are not involved in any of this a war with india would just lead to more trouble

[Afro-European]

It's time to work with the Russians in setting up a railroad connection between Europe and Afghanistan.
Considering Russia's price - non-deployment of a missile shield in Eastern Europe - the U.S. is seeking a new route bypassing Russia.
Georgia-Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan-Afghanistan
or
Georgia-Azerbaijan-Turkmenistan-Afghanistan.

[medo]

Any route through Georgia-Azerbaijan have to go over Caspian sea and in time of confrontation with Iran they could become iranian targets. The safest route for US could be shipping to Vladivostok, than by trans-sibirian railroad to Kazahstan-Uzbekistan to Afghanistan. After all russians have there two railroads, trans-sibirian and BAM.

[Nobi]

Something tells me the Paki govt. has some involvement in this.

And this "Something" is your feeling?

[Nobi]

Something tells me the Paki govt. has some involvement in this. And this "Something" is your feeling? Something tells me that the mumbai (bombay) attacks have something to do with debts. Of course all conspiracy, like the credit crisis was many years a conspiracy, or WTC7.:) Of course this is only: "Something tells me". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0GHVEKrhng&eurl=http://www.infowars.com/?p=6460

p-)

[Afro-European]

The safest route for US could be shipping to Vladivostok, than by trans-sibirian railroad to Kazahstan-Uzbekistan to Afghanistan. After all russians have there two railroads, trans-sibirian and BAM.
That's a good alternative route but that 'd be too long and too expansive: CONUS-Canada-Alaska-Russian Far-East-Kazakhstan-Tajikistan-Afghanistan.And what about Europe sending their stuff to A'stan?

[Mackie]

That's a good alternative route but that 'd be too long and too expansive: CONUS-Canada-Alaska-Russian Far-East-Kazakhstan-Tajikistan-Afghanistan.And what about Europe sending their stuff to A'stan?

http://www.rferl.org/Content/Russia_Opens_Afghan_Transit_Route_For_NATOs_Germany/1351659.html

[Afro-European]

Nato in Russia deal to open Afghan supply route

Jeremy Page, South Asia Correspondent

Nato plans to open a new supply route to Afghanistan through Russia and Central Asia in the next eight weeks following a spate of attacks on its main lifeline through Pakistan this year, Nato and Russian sources have told The Times.
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the former Soviet Central Asian states that lie between Russia and Afghanistan, have agreed in principle to the railway route and are working out the small print with Nato, the sources said.
“It'll be weeks rather than months,” said one Nato official. “Two months max.”
The “Northern Corridor” is expected to be discussed at an informal meeting next week between Dmitri Rogozin, Russia's ambassador to Nato, and Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Nato's Secretary-General.
The breakthrough reflects Nato and US commanders' growing concern about the attacks on their main supply line, which runs from the Pakistani port of Karachi via the Khyber Pass to Kabul and brings in 70 per cent of their supplies. The rest is either driven from Karachi via the border town of Chaman to southern Afghanistan - the Taleban's heartland - or flown in at enormous expense in transport planes that are in short supply.
“We're all increasingly concerned,” Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters on Wednesday. “But in that concern, we've worked pretty hard to develop options.”
The opening of the Northern Corridor also mirrors a gradual thaw in relations between Moscow and Nato, which plunged to their lowest level since the end of the Cold War after Russia's brief war with Georgia in August.
However, Nato and the United States are simultaneously in talks on opening a third supply route through the secretive Central Asian state of Turkmenistan to prevent Russia from gaining a stranglehold on supplies to Afghanistan, the sources said. Non-lethal supplies, including fuel, would be shipped across the Black Sea to Georgia, driven to neighbouring Azerbaijan, shipped across the Caspian Sea to Turkmenistan and then driven to the Afghan border.
The week-long journey along this “central route” would be longer and more expensive than those through Pakistan or Russia and would leave supplies vulnerable to political volatility in the Caucasus and Turkmenistan.
The US and Nato are, though, exploring as many alternatives as possible as America prepares to deploy 20,000 more troops - three quarters of them by the summer - to add to the 67,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan. Turkmenistan represents the only realistic alternative that bypasses Russia. A route through Iran is out of the question because Washington does not have diplomatic relations with Tehran. Afghanistan's border with China is too remote to be used.
An agreement with Georgia has already been signed and negotiations with Azerbaijan are “ongoing”, a Nato official said.
Nato began exploring alternative supply routes in response to political instability in Pakistan last year and reached an informal agreement with Russia on the Northern Corridor at a Nato summit in Bucharest in April. At the same meeting President Berdymukhammedov of Turkmenistan offered to allow Nato to take supplies across its territory and to establish logistics bases there, according to Nato sources.
Negotiations stalled after the Georgian crisis, as Nato suspended high-level contacts with Moscow and Central Asian countries grew wary of angering the former Soviet master.
They have since shown their independence by refusing to back Moscow's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.
Russia, meanwhile, has been offering preferential treatment to Nato members that it considers “friendly”, such as France and Germany, the only Nato members allowed to fly supplies to Afghanistan through Russian airspace. In November Germany also became the first Nato member allowed to bring supplies for Afghanistan through Russia by railway.
Russian officials say that Moscow is ready to open the Northern Corridor to all Nato members as soon as the alliance finalises its agreements with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The agreements cover non-military supplies such as fuel, food and clothing, and some non-lethal military equipment.
“All Nato countries will be able to use the Northern Corridor,” one Russian official familiar with the negotiations told The Times. “As far as we understand, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have agreed to it and sent the relevant papers to Brussels. We're just waiting for Nato to sign the agreements. We've done our part.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5333435.ece