The United States has apologized to Pakistan for last week's
helicopter raid that killed Pakistani soldiers near the Afghan
border. Despite the apology, the key border crossing for NATO's
overland supply lines border remains closed and Taliban militants have
destroyed more than 100 trucks in the past week. Thousands of other
trucks now sit idle, waiting for the main crossing to reopen.
Gunmen stormed a truck depot on Nowshera district late Wednesday,
burning some 26 vehicles. Earlier, another group of vehicles was
attacked near the southern city Quetta. NATO supply routes have long
been targeted by Pakistani militants, but the cluster of attacks
following the Torkham border closure has highlighted the vulnerability
of the route.
Truck drivers at the Torkham crossing on Wednesday said they had been
left stranded by the closure, with many forced to stay with their NATO
supply containers to try to protect them from theft or attack. Driver
Haider Khan Afradi said drivers are now at risk throughout their
journey.
"We are always in danger when we start from Karachi towards Torkham up
to Kabul. There is no security for us and we are suffering a lot,"
Khan told the Associated Press.
NATO pays Pakistani contractors to unload fuel and supplies from cargo
ships and fuel tankers arriving in the southern port Karachi. Truckers
then drive the supplies hundreds of kilometers across the Hindu Kush
mountains to landlocked Afghanistan. Parts of the routes pass through
areas controlled by the Taliban and Pakistani officials have said in
recent days that the government is not responsible for ensuring the
trucks safety.
Pakistani officials also have not indicated when the border will
reopen. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abdul Basit said
Thursday that officials are still evaluating the security situation
and will reopen the supply route "in due course."
NATO authorities insist that the closure of their main land supply
route is not hindering the Afghan war effort. But analysts say the
extended closure is affecting the already tense relationship between
Pakistan and the United States.
Harsh Pant, an analyst and lecturer at the Department of Defence
Studies at King's College in London, predicts the border closure
incident will lead to worsening relations between the two nations.
"I think they are very tense and perhaps at one of their lowest ebbs
that we have seen in recent times. And the problem, of course, is on
both sides," Pant said. "There is a sense about the impending end game
in Afghanistan and what the other side is planning to do."
The United States has pressed Pakistan to more aggressively go after
militant safe havens on the Pakistani side of the border. While
Pakistani forces have launched assaults in parts of the border region
and elsewhere in the northwest, the army has not attacked the main
militant strongholds in the North Waziristan tribal region. Instead,
the United States is increasingly targeting fighters there with drone
attacks, pounding the region last month with a record number of
strikes against suspected militant hideouts.
Pakistan officially opposes the drone policy, and the foreign ministry
spokesman Thursday said authorities continue to raise the issue with
Washington.
"About drone attacks, I have very clearly articulated and cited our
position," Basit said. "We do have strong differences with the U.S.
on these attacks as well, and there are ongoing consultations with the
U.S. on this issue, and we hope that the U.S. would reflect on this,
would re-visit its position."
Despite the denials, Pakistani authorities are believed to privately
condone the practice and secretly work with the United States
intelligence agency, the CIA, to help target Islamic extremists.
The United States has provided more than $15 billion in aid to
Pakistan since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and in
return, Pakistan has allowed coalition forces to use the country as a
key transit route for supplies.
Publicly, top U.S. and Pakistani officials say the key relationship
between the U.S. and Pakistani remains productive. But throughout the
war, there has also been evidence that the two countries have
fundamental differences over their goals in Afghanistan.
The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported on Thursday that members of
Pakistan's intelligence agency are pressuring militants to continue
fighting against NATO and the United States, despite Afghan efforts to
begin peace talks. Pakistani authorities denied the allegation, made
by an anonymous Taliban commander quoted by the newspaper. An unnamed
Pakistan official told The Wall Street Journal that the Pakistani spy
agency is an easy scapegoat for failures in Afghanistan.
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