Nov. 12, 2008
U.S. Supply Convoy Hijacked In Pakistan
Attack On Trucks Carrying Humvees For U.S.-Led Troops Shows Militant Control Of Key Route
-
Play CBS Video Video The Road Ahead In Afghanistan President-elect Obama will inherit a war in Afghanistan with an insurgency that's stronger than ever, with attacks and U.S. casualties at its highest since the war began. Lara Logan reports.
-
-
In this Sept. 27, 2007 file photo, U.S. soldiers stand near an armored Humvee in the Tagab district of Kapisa province, north of Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
-
In exclusive video obtained by CBS News, a young Afghan student is sent on a suicide mission to find American targets. (CBS)
-
In exclusive video obtained by CBS News, young Afghan students are trained for terror missions. (CBS)
-
-
Fast Facts Afghanistan Learn about the people, economy and history.
-
Interactive Global Terror Major terrorist organizations, the FBI's most wanted and facts and photos from recent attacks.
The assault highlighted the vulnerability of a vital supply route for the 65,000 U.S. and NATO forces battling a resurgent Taliban in landlocked Afghanistan. A significant amount of supplies for the Western forces go through Pakistan.
Attacks on convoys carrying food, fuel and other supplies are common on the road. But Monday's raid was especially large and well-organized. It also could further strain U.S.-Pakistani relations over rooting out Taliban and al Qaeda militants along the border, which remain entrenched despite military offensives and U.S. missile strikes.
Some 60 masked militants blocked the route at several points before overpowering the convoy, said Fazal Mahmood, a government official in Khyber tribal region. He identified the attackers as members of Pakistan's Taliban movement.
Security forces traded fire with the gunmen, but were forced to retreat, he said. The militants took about 13 trucks along with the drivers, who were believed to be Pakistani.
A U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan confirmed the thefts late Tuesday.
"There were some U.S. military materials that were taken - Humvees and water tank trailers," said Maj. John Redfield.
CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan reports the war President-elect Barack Obama is inheriting in Afghanistan includes an insurgency that's stronger than ever and willing to turn very young men into suicide bombers, and it's a war that is creeping ever closer to Kabul.
In the most recent violence:
In the past, U.S. and NATO officials have played down their losses from hijackings and attacks along the Khyber Pass.
But earlier this year, NATO said it was trying to reduce its dependence on the route by negotiating with Russia and other nations to let it truck "non-lethal" supplies to Afghanistan through Central Asia.
Pakistani security forces, backed by helicopter gunships, hunted for the missing trucks and drivers. The military said late Tuesday it had recovered some of the stolen materials but would not specify what.
"We are using all resources to trace and recover the hijacked trucks, some of which were carrying vehicles for the allied forces in Afghanistan," Mahmood said.
NATO and U.S. officials have in the past suggested that ordinary criminals - not an orchestrated campaign by militants - are the main problem.
The Khyber Pass, a stretch of about 30 miles, has long been an important trade route and militarily strategic area traversed for centuries by armies, from Moghul warriors to British colonial forces. It abuts Peshawar, Pakistan's main northwestern Pakistan city.
In a bid to eliminate militancy in the border region, the U.S. has stepped up unilateral missile strikes there, a move condemned by Pakistani leaders who say it only deepens anti-American feelings among civilians.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was headed to the United States Tuesday for a U.N. conference on interfaith relations. He was expected to broach the subject of the missile strikes with U.S. officials.
Pakistan's prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, issued a statement after a meeting Tuesday with a U.S. congressional delegation saying there was a "need for restoration of trust between" the two nations and that there must be "complete respect for Pakistan's territorial integrity."
Pakistan has pursued its own military offensives against insurgents, including ones in the Swat Valley and the Bajur tribal region. The U.S. has praised the operations, but the militants have staged a wave of suicide attacks, apparently in retaliation.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More From War On Terror
Add a Comment See all 26 Comments
- All the better for the US war industry-supplying "BOTH" side make double the $$$!!!The side effect of dead US military is acceptable to them as "collateral damage" common in war.
- Reply to this comment
- [That doesn''''t make any sense. What does running an oil company into the ground have to do with our ally Pakistan not being able to control what they say is a secure supply road????]
[Posted by ThrdArmored at 09:14 PM : Nov 12, 2008]
all the intelligence said the road was safe.
so ... as we all now know ... even though the intelligence failed us ''the last time'' ... we should place complete faith in it this time. then use it later to absolve ourselves of any responsibility when it turns out to be wrong. we wont be wrong for believing it ... even though it was wrong before ... and we should really know better. someone else will take the fall ... and as long as my hands are clean ... everything will be fine.
of course it wasn''t wrong in the first place ... it''s just never absolute with anything ... it all has caveats and qualifiers ... everything is subject to interpretation ... and everything must be weighed relative to the integrity of it''s source.
but i won''t weigh it ... i''ll ignore the caveats ... and lets edit out the qualifiers ... then it will look like it''s a sure thing ... but make sure you still have someone elses name on it ... so when it blows up it does so in their face.
do you understand now? - Reply to this comment
- It''s USA Who Makes Every Nation Unhappy..... Make The World A Real Hell.........So Every Human Who wants PEACE Should Hate USA & Protest USA. Who Killed/Killing Thousands Of Innocent Human Life And Crying For So Call Peace (Realy Evil Attitude ).
- Reply to this comment
- It''s USA Who Makes Every Nation Unhappy..... Make The World A Real Hell.........So Every Human Who wants PEACE Should Hate USA & Protest USA. Who Killed/Killing Thousands Of Innocent Human Life And Crying For So Call Peace (Realy Evil Attitude ).
- Reply to this comment
- It''s USA Who Makes Every Nation Unhappy..... Make The World A Real Hell.........So Every Human Who wants PEACE Should Hate USA & Protest USA. Who Killed/Killing Thousands Of Innocent Human Life And Crying For So Call Peace (Realy Evil Attitude ).
- Reply to this comment
- do you know what iranians do with liberal fa ggots??
Posted by obamasNUTZ
---
Sorry, but Ahmed the Nutjob announced on televison that they don''t exist in Iran. It''s hard to do anything with X if X doesn''t exist. Guess they have as much trouble finding them in their own neighborhood as we have in finding OBL in his. But one thing I missed was where Ahmed Nutjob made any distinction whatsoever between a liberal one and a conservative one. If they ever find one maybe we''ll get to see the label. I hear they wear those on the outside these days. Liberals on their sleeves; conservatives on RNC provided wardrobes. - Reply to this comment
- GPS tracking would be out of the question; where would they find a place to put it on a big truck? IEDs rigged to explode via remote triggers should the vehicles fall into the wrong hands would be out of the question; we don''t have that expertise the way our enemies do. Coordinated air cover for a transport group is out of the question; the Taliban Air Force controls the skies. Are we fighting a war over there or are we playing bean bag? Someone tell our generals to put the Wii on hold and get down to the business of jamming OBL against the gates of h*ll.
- Reply to this comment
- That doesn''t make any sense. What does running an oil company into the ground have to do with our ally Pakistan not being able to control what they say is a secure supply road????
- Reply to this comment
The Bu$h legacy - run armies like he ran oil companies - into the ground...- Reply to this comment
- Just another example of how inept our so called allies are in this war on terror. Pakistan''s army can be bought just like their intelligence organization, shoot, half the intel guys are Taliban sympathyzers. There''s a better way to bring in supplies, but it''s to expensive. Geez, just like the army, cheap trumps lives.
- Reply to this comment
- JoeDumber: Are you saying that the terrorists are ruining their future with acid baths, car bombs, etc.
- Reply to this comment
- Civilian deaths=Family members terrorists. Think about what you would do if a bomb blew your house up, and killed the ones you loved.
- Reply to this comment
- "Two men threw acid on 6 girls going to school" Islam at its finest.
- Reply to this comment
- "There were some U.S. military materials that were taken - Humvees and water tank trailers,"
WTH? Are all of our C-17s and C-5A/Bs tied up in Iraq? We can''''t even scrounge up some C-131s?
lolll...gee...I hope nobody with a real Army takes a swat at us.
Posted by ibsteve2u at 01:15 PM : Nov 12, 2008
Where would they land? even a C-130 needs a runway. If they are going to mountainous areas it is too dangerous to maneuver around. - Reply to this comment
- "There were some U.S. military materials that were taken - Humvees and water tank trailers,"
WTH? Are all of our C-17s and C-5A/Bs tied up in Iraq? We can''t even scrounge up some C-131s?
lolll...gee...I hope nobody with a real Army takes a swat at us. - Reply to this comment
- This is the perfect oppurtunity for the US to give the pakistan government to step up or shut the h---lll up.They need to go and retrive our goods or get back in thier tents and duck .The pakistan president is a political puppet whose strings have beome tangled.Major General petraus will not let this go unanswered.tommorow there qwill be headlines telling of our reprimand.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by tootall1014 at 08:36 AM : Nov 12, 2008
+
The US was blaming Pakistan for letting its territory used by Taliban freedom fighters, yet she is using the same territory to transport weapons. US hypocrisy knows no bounds. - Reply to this comment
- The U.S. should stop embarrassing itself on the Afghanistan Pakistan border and withdraw or fund and resource forces for a fight to win it. The most noticeable trait to the way the Bush administration fights the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is doing it on the cheap. At first there were no body armor and not enough ammo and not enough vehicle armor, then there were complaints about not enough troops to carry out missions and multiple tours in battle zones for those shouldering the burden. Is it any wonder the suicide rate is so high for our brave troops? Hopefully Pres.-elect Obama will do much better, fight these wars to win them or withdraw. The Bush strategy seems to be one of treading water, not trying to lose.
- Reply to this comment
- I guess we should attack and occupy Pakistan as well as Afghanistan? Do you not want to exact revenge for this action just like 9-11? Come on LIBS, the answer is waiting?
- Reply to this comment
- Al Qada is a clique of Felons who commit heinous murders for fear and respect. Their terror activities threaten the People into submission. Bin Laden is a crime syndicate boss. His operation deals illicit smut (magazines, DVD, Internet porn), illegal narcotics, and stolen property. Osama has the money to buy political influence. Islamabad protects Waziristan with modern military weapons and technology.
- Reply to this comment
- The convoy was abviously hijacked by liberals who thought it was the government bread and cheese truck.
- Reply to this comment
Mike Huckabee on GOP "rock stars," 2012, health care reform and more.
