Hundreds of Taliban fighters have stormed a crucial Nato depot outside the Pakistani city of Peshawar, destroying over 100 lorries which would have taken supplies to American and British forces in Afghanistan.
The gunmen overpowered and disarmed the security guards, before setting fire to the vehicles, many of which were laden with Humvee armoured cars intended for Western forces.
About three quarters of all the ammunition, food, weapons and other supplies needed by Nato’s troops in Afghanistan, including 8,000 British soldiers, pass through Pakistan. The Taliban have clearly identified this route as a crucial vulnerability.
I may be getting too paranoid, but I wonder if these attacks were done with the encouragement of Pakistan’s army. It would be good way of reminding the US of how critical Pakistan was for American success in Afghanistan. The Pakistani army might figure that the US needs a reminder given the pressure that the US has started to put on Pakistan. From the Belmont Club….
Whatever the American attitude towards the Government of Pakistan will be, the US already openly believes that certain former (thanks for spotting the difference, readers) Pakistani officials are in fact, terrorists. Bill Roggio reports that “the US wants the United Nations Security Council to designate several senior former officers of Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence agency as international terrorists.”
It may be paranoia to connect these two stories. But Pakistan has openly threated to let to allow the Taliban a free hand if too much pressure is put on it by India. From the New York Times….
Ms. Rice’s diplomatic agenda takes place as Washington is seeking high-level cooperation in different spheres with both India and Pakistan, nuclear-armed neighbors. Washington wants Pakistan to help defeat Al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents along the border with Afghanistan.
But Pakistani security officials have threatened to withdraw troops from the lawless border region to redeploy them if India and Pakistan slide toward their fourth war since independence from Britain in 1947, Reuters reported.
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