Rare Afghanistan Convoy Attack in Normally Safe Pakistan City, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 January 2010
EXCERPT: "A NATO convoy came under assault Thursday while carrying supplies through Pakistan to Afghanistan in a rare ambush inside Karachi, the relatively secure port city from which 300 to 400 of the coalition’s trucks leave each day. Any assault on the Pakistani supply route is worrisome to the US-led forces in Afghanistan, who use it to ship three-quarters of their materials and will need it even more as the surge of 30,000 US troops progresses. But the attack in Karachi – which is the commercial capital of Pakistan, and has largely escaped the bomb attacks troubling other major cities and the northwest – raises particular concern, especially if it marks the beginning of a trend. 'We will have to increase our vigilance to ensure that such attacks do not become commonplace,' said a police investigator at the Special Investigation Unit, which runs counterterrorism operations in the city. As a sign of NATO’s desire to loosen its dependence on the Pakistan route, which comes under frequent attack, the organization said Wednesday it had secured agreement from Kazakhstan to allow transit of nonlethal supplies into Afghanistan. This paves the way for an alternate supply route that also includes Russia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan."
Read the full story.
Related articles:
NATO, Kazakhstan agree on overland supply route to Afghanistan, The Canadian Press, 27 January 2010
Taliban attack NATO supply route, The Washington Times, 26 March 2009
Pakistan briefly reopens key NATO supply route, The New York Times, 2 January 2009
Pakistan shuts NATO supply route, The Australian, 17 November 2008
New Al-Qaeda focus on NATO supplies, Asia Times Online, 12 August 2008
Related reports:
The Northern Distribution Network and the Modern Silk Road: Planning for
Afghanistan’s future, Center for Strategic and International Studies via the Human Security Gateway, 17 January 2010
Karachi becoming a Taliban safe haven? [pdf, page 13], CTC Sentinel, January 2010
Related posts:
Karachi seen as key to Pakistan's future, 22 January 2010
Continued violence in Karachi leads to new casualties, 11 January 2010
Karachi's new resolve against Taliban, 7 January 2010
Afghan Taliban leaders hiding in Karachi, 1 December 2009
NATO supply routes in Pakistan under threat, 13 November 2009
