And so it starts: NATO convoy attacked in Pakistan

[SoCalDem]

By CHRIS BRUMMITT, Associated Press Writer Chris Brummitt, Associated Press Writer – 4 mins ago


ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Assailants launched two separate attacks on tankers carrying fuel for foreign troops in Afghanistan on Friday, showing the vulnerability of NATO supply lines a day after the Pakistani government itself shut one down.

The events stand to complicate a difficult war in Afghanistan, especially if the Torkham border crossing along the fabled Khyber Pass remains closed for long. They are a reminder of the leverage Pakistan has over the United States just as Washington seeks the help of its uncomfortable ally at a crucial point in the 9-year-long conflict.

They also highlight the importance of recently opened supply routes into landlocked Afghanistan through central Asian states to its north. Those routes are safer, but the Pakistani lines from the Arabian seaport of Karachi north to Kabul and Kandahar in Afghanistan are cheaper and account for most of NATO's non-lethal supplies.

Pakistan shut down the Torkham border crossing — the most important NATO supply into Afghanistan — on Thursday in apparent protest of a NATO helicopter attack that killed three Pakistani soldiers on the frontier. It was the third such incursion into Pakistan in less than a week.

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[musette_sf]

1. Crap.

Ginning it up AGAIN.

[stray cat]

2. pakistan troops are attacked in pakistan as well in the region

[msongs]

3. nothing new about this - US supply line stupidity 4 easy targets nt