US supply trucks wait at Pakistani pass

PESHAWAR: Container trucks and oil tankers bound for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan gathered Monday at the Khyber Pass, awaiting the chance to resume their journey after militant attacks prompted Pakistan to suspend the critical supply route.The temporary barring of the vehicles in northwest Pakistan, to be lifted later Monday, was intended to allow for a review of security in the famed passageway. The convoys carry food, fuel and other goods, including military vehicles.Al-Qaida and Taliban fighters are behind much of the escalating violence along the porous Afghan-Pakistan border. Both countries have accused each other of not doing enough to stop militants, while U.S. missile strikes in Pakistani territory have ratcheted up tensions further.Last Monday, dozens of suspected Taliban militants hijacked several trucks near the Khyber Pass whose load included Humvees heading to the U.S.-led coalition. Pakistani officials imposed the suspension soon afterward.Fazal Mahmood, a local administration official, said Monday that vehicles at the checkpoint were slated to move by 10:30 a.m. but that it could take longer because drivers were being briefed about new security procedures, which include having paramilitary escorts."We are keeping the convoy in a controllable size with several security vehicles included in the beginning, in middle and at the end so that miscreants get no chance to sneak in to hijack any vehicle at any point," he said.U.S. and NATO officials in Afghanistan have sought to play down threats posed to the convoys coming through Pakistan, but NATO has said it is close to striking pacts with Central Asian countries that would let it transport "non-lethal" supplies from north of Afghanistan.In April, NATO concluded a transit agreement with Russia, but it will be of practical use only once the Central Asian nations between Russia and Afghanistan come on board.Most of the supplies headed to foreign troops in Afghanistan arrive in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi in unmarked, sealed shipping containers and are loaded onto trucks for the journey either to the border town of Chaman or on the primary route, through the Khyber Pass.

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