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发帖数: 29846 | 1 By RIAZ KHAN and SEBASTIAN ABBOT, Associated Press
November 27, 2011
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Hundreds of trucks
carrying supplies to U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan backed up at Pakistani
border crossings Sunday, leaving them vulnerable to militant attack a day
after Islamabad closed the frontier in retaliation for coalition airstrikes
that allegedly killed 24 Pakistani troops.
As Pakistan army chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani attended the funerals of
the victims, including a major, the U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. has relied heavily on drone
strikes in the past few years, partly out of frustration with Pakistan's
refusal to target militants using its territory to stage attacks against
American and NATO troops in Afghanistan.
There are forces working against a total rupture in the relationship.
Pakistan still relies on billions of dollars in American military and
civilian aid, and the U.S. needs Islamabad's help to push Afghan insurgents
to engage in peace talks.
But tensions could rise further if militants unleash attacks against 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 U.S. 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 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.
"We are worried," said driver Saeed Khan, speaking by telephone from the
border terminal in Torkham. "This area is always vulnerable to attacks.
Sometimes rockets are lobbed at us. Sometimes we are targeted by bombs."
Khan and hundreds of other drivers and their assistants barely slept
Saturday night because they were worried about potential attacks, he said.
Some drivers said Pakistan had sent paramilitary troops to protect their
convoys since the closures, but others were left without any additional
protection. Even those who did receive troops did not feel safe.
"If there is an attack, what can five or six troops do? Nothing," said
Niamatullah Khan, a fuel truck driver who was parked with 35 other vehicles
at a restaurant about 125 miles (200 kilometers) from Chaman.
NATO ships nearly 50 percent of its non-lethal supplies to its troops in
Afghanistan through Pakistan. The trucks are periodically targeted by
suspected militants as they travel through the country, and their drivers
are sometimes killed. NATO has said these attacks do not significantly
impact its ability to keep its troops supplied.
An official closely involved with the Afghan war said there will likely be
no immediate negative effect from Pakistan's decision to close its border
crossings. NATO has built up a large stockpile of military and other
supplies that could enable operations to continue at their current level for
several months, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity
because of the sensitivity of the matter.
NATO has reduced the amount of non-lethal supplies it ships through Pakistan
from a high of around 80 percent by using routes through Central Asia. The
northern logistics link could be expanded to make up for the Pakistani
closure, but it would leave NATO heavily dependent on Russia at a time when
ties with Moscow are increasingly strained.
Some critical supplies, including ammunition, are airlifted directly to
Afghan air bases.
Pakistan eventually relented and reopened Torkham last year after the U.S.
apologized. But the number of alleged casualties is much higher this time.
The relationship between the two countries has also severely deteriorated
over the past year, especially following the covert U.S. raid that killed
Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani garrison town in May. Islamabad was outraged
because it wasn't told about the operation beforehand.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday that the alleged NATO attack negated all
progress in improving the tattered alliance between the two countries.
She told Clinton in a phone call that the alleged 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 U.S. 15 days
to vacate Shamsi Air Base in Baluchistan. The U.S. uses the base to service
drones when they cannot return to their bases inside Afghanistan because of
weather conditions or mechanical difficulty, U.S. and Pakistani officials
said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
The Pakistani army said 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 Sunday at the army's headquarters in
Peshawar, the most important city in the country's northwest. Mourners said
prayers in front of caskets wrapped in green and white Pakistani flags.
A spokesman for NATO forces, Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson, said Saturday 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.
Afghan officials said Sunday that the call was made after Afghan soldiers
came under fire. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of
the sensitivity of the incident.
Jacobson told BBC television that it was "highly likely" that the airstrikes
caused Pakistani casualties, but an investigation is being conducted to
determine the details.
U.S. officials have expressed their sympathies over the incident and have
promised to work closely with Pakistan as NATO carries out its investigation.
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 the future."
"We have a joint interest in the fight against cross-border terrorism and in
ensuring that Afghanistan does not once again become a safe haven for
terrorists," Rasmussen said in Brussels. |
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