Pakistani hauliers are refusing to transport supplies to coalition forces in Afghanistan following a series of attacks on their vehicles.
The decision follows a deterioration in law and order along the 35-mile stretch between Peshawar, where the military supplies are stored, and the Khyber Pass which links Pakistan with Afghanistan.
Hundreds of Nato and US-led coalition vehicles have been destroyed in the last two weeks after depots were targeted by hundreds of militants in northwest Pakistan.
Mohammad Shakir Afridi, president of the Khyber Transport Association, in the northwestern city of Peshawar said: “We have stopped supplies to foreign forces in Afghanistan from today.
“We have around 3,500 trucks, tankers and other vehicles, we are the major suppliers to Afghanistan, transporting about 60-70 per cent of goods.”
A lot of this is just bluster. These dudes don’t have a lot ways of making money short of driving truck for the US. They just want someone to take their security seriously. At most, they may go so far as cut off supplies for a day or two to make their point.
Still, in the broader context this is a serious issue. War is not just a matter of how many of the enemy you can kill. It is also a matter of how well you can protect your friends. It does no good to win every stand up engagement if your enemy can melt into a population that fears them more then you. This simple idea forms the basis behind any sane counterinsurgency doctrine.
Now the truck drivers probably don’t have a deep love for the US. But if US does not do its best to take care of the truck drivers, the US can forget about getting any other Pakistani to give them a hand. More to the point, without a working supply line, the US can forget about doing anything in Afghanistan.
And don’t tell me that it is the job of the Pakistani government to protect the truckers. Should cuts no ice when your troops are the ones at the end of a shaky supply line. If the US government really believes that the Pakistani government is competent they should stop flying predators over the border every other week. If the US government does not believe the Pakistani government to be competent (and what sane person does?) they should realize that the security of their supply lines is ultimately their problem.