Officials: Pakistan blocks NATO supply trucks (to Afghanistan)

[Turborama]

Source: AP

By RIAZ KHAN -

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistani government officials say senior authorities have ordered them to block oil tankers and trucks carrying NATO supplies at a checkpoint bordering Afghanistan.

The two officials say they were not told the reason for the order at the Torkham border post. However, it comes after threats by Pakistani officials to stop providing protection to NATO convoys if the military alliance's choppers hit Pakistani targets again.

Earlier Thursday, Pakistani officials alleged a NATO airstrike hit a border post, killing three Pakistani troops.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information to the media.

Read more: http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/officials-pakistan-blocks-nato-646935.html

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Pakistan Blocking NATO Supplies to Afghanistan?

Officials Apparently Told to Stop NATO Trucks at Border after NATO Copter Allegedly Kills Pakistani Troops

(CBS/AP) Pakistani government officials say senior authorities have ordered them to block oil tankers and trucks carrying NATO supplies at a checkpoint bordering Afghanistan.

=snip=

If Pakistani border guards were to halt the flow of supplies into Pakistan, it would represent a massive logistical challenge for U.S. and NATO commanders, and an equally large diplomatic challenge for Western leaders dealing with an increasingly frustrated Pakistani government.

More: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/30/world/main6913605.shtml

[Arctic Dave]

1. It appears things are getting worse.

If that was possible.

[Kringle]

2. somebody wants more money .nt

[sledgehammer]

3. Because 3 Pakistani troops were killed by NATO helicopters

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20100930/as-pakistan-afghan-border/

[PDJane]

4. Why would anyone be shocked at this,

since the US has continued drone attacks and Nato has been doing bombing runs during the flooding that they have been enduring.......and telling the world why the US isn't going to help fix what they've broken.

[Nihil]

5. Good.

Maybe it will bring a little bit of focus on the gung-ho dickheads
who think nothing of blowing up Pakistani people in Pakistan.

Whoever would have thought that someone might object to that policy?
:eyes:

[cosmicone]

6. Cut off all aid and they will comply

Make all aid to Pakistan contingent upon Pakistan carrying out its duties to NATO.

[classysassy]

7. Revenge and pride

are deadly,we have been there too long,ten years,billions of dollars and only the war profiteers are happy.911 should be investigated by congress with open hearings so we can get to the bottom of these illegal wars.

[Turborama]

8. Detailed analysis from the NYT: Signaling Tensions, Pakistan Shuts NATO Route

By JANE PERLEZ and HELENE COOPER
Published: September 30, 2010

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — American officials pressed their Pakistani counterparts on Thursday to reopen a vital supply route for American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, as relations deteriorated after the fourth strike by coalition helicopters in a week killed three members of Pakistan’s border force.

Pakistan angrily closed the crossing to protest the strikes on its side of the border, leaving American officials to use meetings and phone calls to try to soothe relations and get the route reopened. Both sides indicated that they might be able to resolve the dispute with a joint investigation. But the border closing, and the exceptional series of strikes by piloted aircraft, as opposed to drones, signaled a general increase in tensions between Pakistan and the United States, already uncomfortable allies that are pursuing competing interests in the Afghan war.

=snip=

“We are clearly in the phase of our relationship where we’re trying to tell them we’re being diddled,” said Teresita C. Schaffer, director of the South Asia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. But, she added: “We have been trying for a couple of years to decrease our logistical dependence on Pakistan, and have only managed to get it to 80 percent from 90 percent. So, no, we clearly don’t have anyplace else to go.”

The border closing was a clear demonstration of the leverage Pakistan holds over the American war effort. It coincided with a previously scheduled visit by the C.I.A. director, Leon E. Panetta, who met Thursday with the Pakistani military chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, part of a stream of American officials who have come to alternately cajole and coerce Pakistani cooperation.

Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/world/asia/01peshawar.html?_r=1

[Turborama]

9. Pakistan-NATO Supply Standoff: No End In Sight

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan kept a vital border crossing closed to U.S. and NATO supply trucks for a third day Saturday, a sign that Islamabad's desire to avoid a domestic backlash over a NATO incursion that killed three Pakistani troops is – for now – outweighing its desire to stay on good terms with America.

Two U.S. missile strikes that killed 16 people in a northwest Pakistani tribal region, meanwhile, showed that America has no intention of sidelining a tactic it considers highly successful, even if it could add to tensions.

The closing of the Torkham border crossing to NATO trucks has exposed the struggles and contradictions at the heart of the U.S.-Pakistan alliance against Islamist militancy.

Both sides need one another: The U.S. gives billions in military and other aid to Pakistan, and the U.S. and NATO use Pakistani roads to transport the majority of their non-lethal supplies to troops in Afghanistan.

Full article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/02/pakistannato-supply-stand_n_748072.html