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Tensions between the United States and Pakistan continue to grow. At the same time that NATO and Pakistan were concluding an investigation of the helicopter attack that killed three Pakistani troops, a US assessment that Pakistan is not aggressively pursuing terrorists became public. Perhaps as a result, release of a joint statement on the investigation has been delayed in a disagreement about its wording and some trucks have now been delayed at the Chaman crossing into Afghanistan, while attacks on fuel tankers continue.
Dawn, through Reuters, reports on the US assessment of Pakistan’s anti-terrorism efforts:
A new White House assessment concludes that Pakistan has been unwilling to aggressively pursue Al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban militants in a Pakistani tribal region.
The White House assessment, first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday and confirmed by Reuters, faults the Pakistan government and military for lacking the will to take action against the militants in North Waziristan.
“The Pakistan military continued to avoid military engagements that would put it in direct conflict with Afghan Taliban or Al-Qaeda forces in North Waziristan,” the assessment said, according to a US official who has seen the report.
“This is as much a political choice as it is a reflection of an under-resourced military prioritizing its targets,” the report said.
The timing for this report becoming public could not have been worse. NATO and Pakistan were completing their investigation of the NATO helicopter attack last week that killed three Pakistani troops, prompting Pakistan to close the Torkham crossing. From another Dawn article:
A joint investigation team of the military and the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force has concluded an initial probe into recent aerial incursions by Isaf helicopters into Kurram Agency, but the communique could not come through on Tuesday because the two sides were haggling over the phraseology.
Sources in Isaf and Pakistan military told Dawn that a statement on the initial probe, which was slated to be released on Tuesday night, was now likely to be made public on Wednesday.
/snip/
As Isaf intends to describe the violation by an air weapons team as an action in self-defence, Pakistanis want the Isaf command to acknowledge that the event was avoidable.
/snip/
Pakistanis are adamant that Isaf should apologise for the incident, but the coalition forces are only ready to express regrets and offer condolences to the families of the soldiers killed in the strike.
At the same time that NATO and Pakistan were disagreeing on the report language, Dawn reported that over 150 NATO supply trucks have been delayed at the Chaman crossing:
Pakistan Customs has detained 152 trailers and oil tankers at Chaman border carrying fuel and other supplies for Nato forces in Afghanistan after detecting some tampering with documents.
“Some tampering was found in Nato supplies documents presented at a Customs checkpoint in Chaman for clearance,” informed sources told Dawn.
/snip/
Custom authorities have decided to clear Nato tankers and trailers only after complete checking after receiving reports of smuggling through these vehicles under cover of Nato supplies.
“No vehicle carrying Nato supplies will be allowed to go to Afghanistan without checking,” the sources said.
This interference with supplies crossing at Chaman is significant, because it is one of the two main crossings into Afghanistan and is the only one open since Pakistan closed the northern Torkham crossing. A delay based on "paperwork" appears to me to be a warning that Pakistan is considering closure of Chaman. Also note from the map at the bottom of this BBC story on today’s tanker attacks that the Chaman crossing is close to Kandahar, where a major NATO offensive is underway. Should Pakistan completely close this crossing as well, NATO logistics will be affected at least for the short term.
At the time of this writing, the day in Pakistan is quite advanced and yet the joint NATO-Pakistan statement on the investigation into the helicopter attack has not been released, even though it was expected early in the day. I will provide an update if and when the statement is made public.
48 Comments
Perfect time to eliminate fossil fuels, and go to alternate energy for these areas. If no one had to drive trucks of fossil fuels into Afghanistan, a lot of problems in addition to pollution would be eliminated.
Daily Show did a great segment on that. Second half of this clip: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-october-5-2010/green-the-army-now
The thought of eliminating fossil fuels sends Republics into a petulant frenzy.
Of course, they’ve been running on empty for awhile without noticing it.
So is this a media prelude to the failure of the kandahar offensive?
I’d guess the report was leaked in a ham-fisted attempt to apply pressure on Pakistan to accept ISAF’s version of events.
A tanker truck holds 9000 gallons, each gallon to Afghanistan costs $400 because of the corrupt greedy contractors. That is more than $3 million dollars per truck. Plus the cost of the truck. Our taxes are stolen by the neo-cons and the military to pay for this criminality.
Very good point.
And I’m having an internal debate right now over whether the “delay” at Chaman is the government of Pakistan saying “Nice border crossing you’ve got there, it would be a shame if something happened to it” or if some paper pusher at the crossing is asking for a raise on his cut of the graft.
With all those trucks blown up question is were they parked or moving? If moving why not a jump in reported troop deaths? Could Independent contractors being blown up.
Nice job to drive past the burnt out shells loaded to the gills with petro but a great time to ask for a raise.
What happens if Pakistan closes all border crossings? Can we finally get the hell out of Afghanistan?
What’s astonishing to me is that the same people responsible for bombing the sh*t out of civilians can then whine about a few gas trucks getting blown up. Hey! I have an idea! Let’s take our ball and go home! That’ll show ‘em!
Depends on the trailer. The high end is 9000 gallons but if the tank is equipped with baffles it’s around 7,700. I doubt that they are transporting more than one grade of gasoline per unit into Pakistan to be honest but weight is a consideration. 9,000 gallons of gas weighs a lot.
Update from Dawn, another drone strike:
Mir Ali is the same site where the German militants were killed earlier this week.
Many of the stories on the crossings are now pointing out that there are other routes available and that the most sensitive materials such as weapons don’t pass through Pakistan.
I just don’t understand how they can tell that all of the drone victims are “militants”. The only rational explanation is that they call everybody these things kill militants, regardless of age, gender or affiliations.
There is more going on in Pakistan then meets the eye. It is a poor country that is easily exploited. Current Govt. official, elected members, and elements of the ISI/Military are corrupt. It is a great opportunity for them to make a bundle from uncle Sam by “helping” the war on terror. On the other hand US does not have enough manpower (soldiers) to patrol the porous borders between Afghanistan and Pakistan so it demands Pakistan to fill this void by providing its reluctant Military for border patrol. The Military has a bigger fish to fry (its arch enemy India) on Indian border. So it has perpetual dilemma. Go Along with US wishes and get monetary rewards and subsequent backlash from Pakistani people. Or defy the Master and face consequences or all kind of punishment. In my opinion the blowing of the fuel tanks is orchestrated by parties who benefit most.
It’s just magic how they know that the missiles only hit militants, isn’t it?
The Taliban are very much anti-Indian, which fact means that the Pakistani government has a vested interest in NOT pissing them off too badly.
But they have given Obama and the warbots a tacit approval to use their airspace to go after them, only now, there’s so much blowback building that they have take that into account, especially since Obama is basically giving the Paki military a “go for it!” in the matter of a coup.
Right after Barack Obama came in with all that political clout, he had a window in which he could have done wondrous things…most notably, getting us out of the twin shitmires. Instead, as part of his great “centrist” agenad, he’s dawdled in Iraq (50,000 troops is still a military occupation) and he’s “surged” in Afghanistan.
They are now HIS wars. If we think that they look like the liabilities they are, now, then just wait until mid-2012, or maybe earlier, when he’s hopping around the White House like a one-legged duck.
I think he has practically no chance at a second term, and all things considered, that’s probably the best thing for progressives; at least we can start to pick up the pieces from the debacle he’s led us into.
In response to Margaret @15
Very easy to tell the victims as ” militants”. Check the Army manuals. A guide for news papers and TV reporters.
Door gunner on a Huey in the movie “Platoon”:
“Anyone who runs is a VC; anyone who stands still is a well-disciplined VC.”
ISAF is exhibiting imperial hubris by refusing to concede that the incident was avoidable.
My understanding is that the helicopters were several kilometers over the border into Pakistan and several soldiers at the Pakistani outpost fired warning shots into the air accompanied by vigorous gestures in an effort to warn the pilots to turn back. The pilots claim that they thought the soldiers were insurgents attempting to shoot them down, so they returned fire in self-defense, killing three and wounding four.
First, I have a difficult time believing that the pilots were unaware that they had crossed the border. Second, I don’t understand how they could have mistaken a Pakistani military outpost and soldiers wearing uniforms for Taliban insurgents. Third, I don’t believe the pilots and gunners on the helicopters could have failed to realize that the soldiers were not aiming at them, given the arm gesturing. Fourth, I don’t understand why there wasn’t any contact between ISAF and the outpost before the shooting started. For all of these reasons, I have to conclude that it looks like ISAF deliberately provoked the incident with intent to kill Pakistani soldiers for reasons that are unclear at this time but probably have something to do with smoldering resentments that the Pakistani military isn’t doing enough to kill insurgents.
Would be nice to see the gunship video and listen to the conversations about this matter. I suspect it would be even more disturbing than the Iraq video provided by Wikileaks of an Apache gunship crew assassinating innocent reporters in Baghdad.
Whatever the circumstances, the murders or accidental shootings were clearly avoidable and ISAF has no reasonable basis to refuse to agree to the Pakistani request. ISAF’s refusal is the equivalent of rubbing salt in an open wound. It’s humiliating and infuriating.
Meanwhile, the tankers continue to go up in smoke and the region teeters on the edge of another war between ISAF and the Pakistani military.
STUPID. STUPID. STUPID.
Evidently, General Petraeus lacks a functioning brain cell.
Full Metal Jacket
“Amateurs worry about strategy; professionals worry about logistics.”
Oh for God’s sake! Why don’t we just go ahead and tell the truth about all this mess. It’s all about the oil and gas pipelines along with the minerals. Not to mention, it pisses the Saudi’s off.
Perhaps we are nearing the end game of this sordid enterprise. Karzai is reportedly negotiating again with the Taliban. It is useful to recall that in principle we are not ‘at war’ with the Taliban, despicable as they are, but with Al Quaeda. The Taliban hold no brief for Al Quaeda. If it weren’t for them, they would still be stoning Afghans for listening to contraband rock music. We will leave with our tail between our legs, like the Russians, but at least we will be out of there within a couple of years.
Chaman, which is a small town on the Pakistani side of the border is approximately 110 kilometers of straight road south of Kandahar. That’s about 66 miles.
All of the gasoline that the military uses is trucked in overland from Karachi and apparently none of it is getting through to Kandahar where the military is going to start running low on gas and begin curtailing the assault on Kandahar pretty soon, if not already.
Weapons and ammunition are flown in, so those supplies likely aren’t affected by the closed border crossings.
The Pakistani military obviously isn’t making any effort to protect the supply trucks. The Pakistani people are super pissed off at the United States and the coalition forces. It’s open season on supply trucks in Pakistan and they are defenseless sitting ducks blocked from crossing the border and parked beside the road with nowhere to go.
You are not speaking for this progressive. Nothing about war is a favorable outcome. War is a disaster for everyone.
recommended, Jim.
4th Attacks on Trucks Near Quetta, Pakistan; Juan Cole; 10/6/10 [Includes, according to "Dawn", video of intial incident.]
Thanks for that link. I couldn’t really see much in the video, though.
Did you look at the link he provides? [I can't watch/listen to them now.]
I took a quick look. I’m not sure there is anything conclusive here, although it may support the Pakistani version of the story more.
Thanks for keeping us up tp date on this, Jim.
Ghost: reading skills, please.
It was clear that I was talking about Obama’s not seeking or getting, a second term, as being good for progressives.
Twolf; thanks. Years after, I sometimes get those confused. Both good flicks, and “Jacket” was the most realistic movie ever made of Parris Island.
(“The D.I.” wasn’t even close…)
Thanks, Jim, for your continued good work keeping us abreast of what is happening in the AfPak war. The spin and the scheming is so thick, you could cut it with a knife. Meanwhile, I heard on NPR this morning that the Washington Post is reporting that Karzai and Mullah Omar are having “high-level” talks. True? False? PsyOps? Kubuki? Who knows?
If there has to be a “tea bag” or tea party movement, then how about a “tea leaf” movement, for those of us who are really trying to figure out what is going on?
Thanks, Jeff. Steve Hynd just put up a great post on the talks.
Reuters is now reporting that the US Ambassador to Pakistan has apologized for the deaths of the Pakistani troops, so perhaps the joint NATO-Pakistan report will be issued soon:
Hmm, this is the first time I’ve seen two troops killed instead of three…
Note also that this is a US only statement on the findings of the joint investigation, not a joint release.
The Dawn video shows what appears to be a helicopter gunship far away. I don’t feel comfortable drawing any conclusions from watching it, except the following:
(1) the weather was sunny and clear few clouds. Visibility was optimal, in other words;
(2) the helicopter flew from right to left along a ridge, dropped out of view behind the ridge, the video stopped, and the video resumed showing the helicopter flying back in the direction from which it came;
(3) the helicopter was too far away to detect any markings; and
(4) I didn’t see the helicopter shoot at anything. I’m not saying it didn’t, but I didn’t see it on the tape.
The stills and the video from Dawn.com website (see harpie’s link @31) show the post getting blown up and you can hear gunfire, but it’s difficult to really see what’s happening, as far as who fired first, etc.
Poor visibility certainly wasn’t a factor.
It was reported on Democracy Now! several weeks ago (see link below) that the US deliberately breached one side of a river in Pakistan, flooding out millions of Pakistanis and killing thousands of them. The US did this in order to prevent a large fleet of predator drones which are stationed on the other side of the river from being flooded.
This just goes to show that the US military would rather save killing machines than it would human lives. So when Obama described what our medical doctors who deliberately infected 700 or so Guatemalans with syphilis as a crime against humanity, he also needs to describe what our generals who deliberately created millions of flood victims in Pakistan as another one of our crimes against humanity!
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/13/this_is_the_worst_catastrophe_to
You’re kidding, right? If this Pakistani government won’t let us have our supply routes, we’ll simply install one that will. The hubris and folly know no bounds.
You seem to be in a positive feedback loop here. That’s what happens when you write consistently good postings. :-)
Keep it up.
du
Worth a read:
Warzone Pakistan | Simon Tisdall | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
du
Thanks, du.
If we weren’t involved in an illegal war, an overt act of empire building, an invasion and the destruction of a foreign country for contracting profit and greed, not to mention the profiteering of the entire corporate driven war machine our elected offals continue to drive (2 including Iraq and Pakistan) energy and supplies to troops would be a non issue.
Applying the positive reasons for development and implementation of alt energy to Iraq/AfPak is rather irrelevant in the context of our problem of being owned and run by a corporate fascist machine in pursuit of GWOT and perpetual war to control not only resources but to control entire populations and render them unable to resist or dissent. Be that here at home or abroad.
How about it’s the beginning of the cutting off of all our supply lines, stranding our troops and rendering them completely open to being run over and destroyed?
1) Taliban in one form or another have completely infiltrated all parts of the action there. They can and are planting their people on and in trucks for purposes of mayhem and to aid and abet said mayhem.
2) Pakistan, ISI, Pashtuns, Afghani’s, and all tribes in the region are all at war with each other, NATO and US. It’s a phreaking mess and the USA stands NO chance, nor ever did, at having a meaningful role in any final outcomes since we invaded Afghan for bin Laden, and left to Iraq then came back.
As the dearly departed Steve Gilliard said about Iraq pre invasion the supply lines there were tenuous. The same sitch in AfPak existed the day we went back. Only worse.
And the issues of air base staging in The ‘Stans and limited road access and control of that access make AfPak a hundredfold times greater a pending disaster than Iraq ever was supply wise.
Any concerted and organized effort on the part of ALL the factions against US/NATO presence can block supplies by road. There’s no rail, no shipping, so that leaves air.
Once the roads are blocked and unsafe, the bases themselves are sitting ducks much like Dien Bien Phu became . . . bring cannons across mountains in Vietnam? Impossible, mon dieu!!!!
Unkle Ho and history begged to differ with the French.
He very well could be either the GOP . . . OR . . . the Dem candidate for ’12.
HRC is the other half of the ticket for the Dem’s.
Obama will decide NOT to run . . . and assume a very profitable position doing speaking tours until the lobbyist wait period expires and he assumes a position with either Wall St. or the war machine component of corporate empire.
Yep.
And with supplies cut off by road . . . the air bases are sitting ducks.