At Least 57 NATO Tankers Torched in Pakistan Attacks
Quetta Attack Targeted Last Open Border Crossing
Violence against NATO fuel tankers in Pakistan has continued to grow, with another 57 tankers being destroyed in a pair of major attacks today alone. Well over a hundred tankers have been destroyed in less than a week.
The violence was sparked by an attack by US helicopters against a Pakistani military site, which killed three members of Pakistan’s Frontier Corps. Pakistan’s government retaliated by closing the Khyber Pass to NATO traffic, one of only two border crossings.
Though most of the attacks have involved strikes against tankers stuck on the Pakistan side of the Khyber route, today’s attacks included a strike on a convoy in Quetta, in the Balochistan Province. The convoy was headed to the still-open border crossing on the western side of the country.
The Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed credit for today’s attacks, and has done so for some of the previous attacks. The Balochistan provincial police insisted they didn’t have enough resources to protect all the NATO traffic trying to go through their province.
Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz
- Centrifuge Glitch Fuels Latest Iran Scare Stories - May 25th, 2012
- Iraq MPs Push Return to Saddam-Era Conscription Laws - May 25th, 2012
- US Negotiator on Iran to 'Reaffirm Our Unshakeable Commitment to Israel' - May 25th, 2012
- UN: Syria Bombings Likely by 'Established Terrorist Groups' - May 25th, 2012
- Military to Avoid Embarrassing Pictures by Banning Photography - May 25th, 2012
Al_Dove
October 6th, 2010 at 5:47 pm
Will this prove to be the Achilles-heel of the Am/NATO effort? Let's hope so.
mymarkx
October 6th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
What I'd heard was that the U.S. was paying the Taliban millions of dollars to protect NATO supply routes. Did the money stop, or what?
Yes, this should be the Achilles heel, Al. We can't fight them in ground combat because we lose. So we have to rely on tanks and planes and other gas guzzlers.
I have to wonder if, as a demonstration of their commitment to fighting global warming, on 10/10/10 the Taliban may be planning to torch another fifty oil tankers.
End the war, save the planet, it is all starting to come together.
tommauel
October 6th, 2010 at 8:07 pm
10 US soldiers killed in Afghanistan in the first four days of October.
Bob Bogus
October 6th, 2010 at 8:35 pm
Dang, the Empire is really taking it in the shorts!
KSB29
October 6th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
You know what they say. Amateurs talk tactics, Experts talk logistics.
The USSR shared a land border with Afghanistan, had an economy dedicated to war, and didn't worry or care about what Pakistan thought of them – and they couldn't pull it off. Yet the wise leaders of DC think they can do what the Kremlin could not.
If Pakistan closes off the land routes, all that leaves is re-supply by air through hostile airspace. And history shows how well that works.
Bill
October 6th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
Maybe similar to the Tet Offensive of the vietnam war…the beginning of the end
Druthers
October 6th, 2010 at 11:28 pm
There is an account in the history books about the Khyber Pass – and the British.
ghouri
October 7th, 2010 at 2:12 am
This action is long due as americans are too arrogant. They are dependent on Pakistan and their army and civilians are at stake.
We will not do it but will be forced by american hegemony on so called war on terror. Americans have won not a single and they will not not win this war too.
It will better for them and for the world to leave afghanistan and Irak.
guests
October 7th, 2010 at 7:42 am
What is wrong here is the wording of "Expert" and "Experts".., I don’t think that they are "Expert" nor that they are "experts" on anything which if they were they would see the feature or have a visions or see what they are doing is wrong.., what they see is the present time and what they can get out of their "Expertise" for the time being.., getting paid in dollars amount… If the president or kings or prim ministers would have that "Expertise" they wouldn’t hire these “stupidest” as their "Experts" in any issues or social and political matters.., so the problem is not if there is an expert but rather who are these people and if they ever been reading the history and if they have learned from it.., or is it so that leaders hire these “stupidest” because they are expert on that subject. The wars in Middle East and Central Asia is about the Oil companies, war machineries and those (Rich American) families which support and have multi billions dollars investments in these companies.., so they all have their “expertise” involved.., thereafter.., follows the car companies and etc.
Robert Menard
October 7th, 2010 at 8:39 am
So, the great NATO, which wantonly massacres women, children and other innocent, unarmed civilians from air by unmanned drones, cannot muster up enough military might to protect its own logistical support. Pathetic.
Valerianus
October 7th, 2010 at 10:30 am
Let us hope that the gratuitous attack on the Pakistani Army outpost proves to be a decisive act of idiocy by the FedGov.
theothercanada
October 7th, 2010 at 10:46 am
Very good news for US economy as those tankers will have to be replaced, it is a small contribution but it is a contribution from the Afghan Resistance to US economy nevertheless.
JLS
October 7th, 2010 at 11:09 am
Do y'all really think this is that significant? I mean enough to make it some kind of turning point?
beeboltwu
October 7th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
You forgot to mention the Brits. They failed to control Afghanistan last century. In fact they were kicked out of there.
guests
October 7th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Or for that matter is a good business for the Swedish Scania or VOLVO or German Merceds Benz truck makers which have more then 80% of the market in Afghanistan and eles wehere in the region.