Pakistani Forces Reopen Key NATO Supply Route

Pakistani Forces Reopen Key NATO Supply Route (NSI News Source Info) Jamrud - January 3, 2008: Pakistani security forces partially reopened a key northwest supply route for Western troops in Afghanistan Friday, three days after shutting it to drive militants from the area, officials said. Security forces backed by helicopter gunships, tanks and heavy artillery on Tuesday launched the operation in the rugged Khyber tribal area near Jamrud, the gateway to the famed Khyber Pass linking Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Oil tankers loaded with supplies for NATO forces wait to cross the southwest Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossing in Chaman January 2, 2009. Trucks rumbled through Pakistan's Khyber Pass on Friday, resuming the transport of supplies to Western forces in Afghanistan three days after authorities suspended shipments to clear out militants.

The offensive, prompted by a series of attacks on truck depots in and around the city of Peshawar that saw hundreds of NATO vehicles torched, forced the closure of the highway from Peshawar to the Afghan border town of Torkham.

The highway was reopened only from 11:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. when authorities relaxed the curfew in force in Jamrud, the administrator of the Khyber tribal area, Tariq Hayat, told a news conference.

"The road is clear and more secure now - all type of vehicles are using the road and NATO supplies also resumed," another local administration official, Rahat Gul, told reporters.

The officials said it would again be open only during the curfew break on Saturday.

Hayat said the military operation was ongoing, but predicted that the situation would "return to normal in one or two days." The bulk of the supplies and equipment required by NATO and US-led forces battling the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan is shipped to Pakistan's largest port, Karachi, in the south. From there, the containers of food, fuel, vehicles and munitions are taken by truck to depots outside Peshawar before being transported to Afghanistan via the Khyber Pass.

But the fabled road passes through the heart of Pakistan's lawless tribal zone, where militants sought refuge after Afghanistan's hard-line Taliban regime was ousted in a US-led invasion at the end of 2001.

Beyond the looting and torching of NATO trucks, Pakistan's military is also trying to put a stop to a spate of kidnappings for ransom in the border area. "Militant camps and support centers are still being targeted," Hayat said. "The troops will stay in Jamrud until the objectives are achieved."

So far, more than 200 people had so far been detained in the operation, he said.

Pakistani security forces display ammunition they confiscated from miscreants during a crackdown operation in Pakistani tribal area of Khyber near Peshawar, Pakistan, on Friday, Jan. 2, 2009. Pakistan reopened the main supply route for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan on Friday after blocking it for three days during a military operation against militants who have been attacking supply convoys.

Authorities displayed a large quantity of arms and ammunition seized since the offensive began, including light machine guns, grenades and thousands of bullets. Hayat said rocket batteries had also been recovered. Food items stolen from NATO supply trucks were retrieved from militant hideouts, as were "provocative" leaflets from Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud and fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, he said.