Pakistan closed the main highway used to transport supplies to US and Nato troops in Afghanistan after it launched a fresh offensive against Taliban insurgents in the northwest of the country.
The US and Nato are considering other possible supply routes to Afghanistan Photo: AP
The move means that Nato troops will depend on airlifts and less reliable Central Asian routes for essential supplies for the foreseeable future. Commanders said the situation was being keep under review. “We continue to monitor the impact of that,” an ISAF spokesman, Royal Navy Captain Mark Windsor . It is not our only means of (getting) supplies.”
Over 75 per cent of fuel, food and other essential commodities for the Western forces are trucked from the Pakistan port of Karachi to Afghanistan. “Because of these (anti-insurgent) operations supplies have been suspended on this route to and from Afghanistan” said Fazal Mehmood, a civilian administrator in the Khyber region.
Pakistan’s army launched an offensive against Taliban insurgents in the region after they ignored a deadline to surrender and was unable to say how long the route would remain closed.
Tags: Afghanistan, ISAF, Military, NATO, Pakistan, Politics, Taliban, U.S., War
