Pakistan retaliation puts NATO in lurch
Afghanistan-bound trucks carrying supplies for NATO forces are parked as authorities closed the border at Torkham, in Pakistan, Sunday, Nov 27, 2011. / AP Photo/Qazi Rauf
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - 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 Qaeda 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.
Pakistan orders U.S. to shut major down air base
Anti-NATO tension builds in Pakistan
NATO: "Highly likely" it killed Pakistanis
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.
People offer funeral prayers for victims of Saturday's NATO attack, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Sunday, Nov 27, 2011.
/ AP Photo/Mohammad SajjadThe 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.
Popular on CBSNews.com
- Mexico's drug war 20 Photos
- Graphic video: Man dead in "truly shocking" London attack Play Video
- U.K. official: London attack suspects probed before
- Tokyo's rockabilly scene 16 Photos
- Muslim hard-liners ID suspect in London attack
- Man dead in "truly shocking" London attack
- People cling to car in "sidewalk skiing" stunt Play Video
- London soldier slaying homegrown Islamic extremism?
The United States should start demanding financial payment from Pakistan for every US and NATO troop that is killed as a result of Pakistans withholding vital supplies to US and NATO troops.
Deduct from the millions of dolars we continue to pay Pakistan for its supposed support on the war against terrorism for every day they hold these vital supply convoys hostage.
Instead of dancing around with these foreign countries with so called "diplomacy" start getting real and call a spade a spade.
"Diplomacy" is just another form of subtrefuge creating an atmosphere where all countries can lie their socks off and get away with it.
Lies (Obama), political correctness, back door deals and corruption have landed the US where it is today.
The American people are finally awakening to the fact that we are being shafted every minute of every day by our own government.
The President, Congress, the Senate and especially the House of Representatives should be forced to justify absolutely every move they make.
We can no longer afford to wait four years to try and correct all this corruption and discord among politicians.
If we wait until November 2012 to put a stop to all this crap coming out of Washington. it just might be too late.
Petition the government to hold a special election in March of 2012 and get rid of all these corrupt, self-serving bloodsuckers out of there.!!
Well, since the roads are out, bring the boys/girls home. No more cash or shoulders to cry on. ef em
Yeah, it's inhumane to their starving millions dependent on our food, but just maybe those very people will finally get desperate enough to put out their hookahs and take control of their own destinies....
We will never get the truth as to what is really going on with Pakistan. The White House and Pentagon feed us a steady diet of misinformation.
The lack of logic in how we deal with Pakistan lends credence to my assumption that misinformation is all we have to go on.
really sucks...
Question is, why were these Pakistani "troops" ordered to fire on ISAF??
As usual, no valid response from Pakistani authority but more posturing and media hype.
One can draw an obvious conclusion the Pakistanis wanted to create a situation and hysteria to disrupt the ISAF supply line to increase more pressure on the Obama administration for a pullout, or more compensation to PakMil.
Nothing a few more doallrs won't fix folks. I mean many dozens of Pakistani people are kidnapped or killed by PakMil and their proxy on daily basis in Balochistan, FATA, and elsewhere who are Balochi, Christians, Hindoos, Sikhs, Shia Muslims, Ahmediyas (not considered Muslims by Pak) and Mohajir with impunity and no legal recourse. The government of Pakistan has no real investigation or prosecution effort for thousands of honor killings or for the rape victims still languishing in jails. Pakistan is a very poor human rights record and with 180 million mouths to feed needs to become a responsible and an honest broker with its own people and with other nations, away from nefarious terrorism activity.