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| India-Pakistan | |
| Pakistan roadblock cuts of Taliban "protection" racket | |
| 2010-10-07 | |
| The Pakistani government's decision to shut a key supply route for coalition convoys in Afghanistan also has cut off a source of income for Taliban militants and a trucking racket that reap big profits from a cross-border "protection." A subsequent spike in attacks on NATO fuel tankers is seen by some analysts as an attempt by this predominantly Pashtun trucking racket to collect more protection money for the convoys. The Torkham Gate crossing remained closed Wednesday, resulting in a miles-long backlog of trucks loaded with essential nonlethal supplies, including military vehicles, spare parts, clothing and fuel.Taliban militants have attacked the trucks in recent days, and dozens of fuel tankers have been set on fire. Drivers have been killed in some instances. In the latest incident, gunmen set fire to more than two dozen tankers and killed a driver on the outskirts of Quetta on Wednesday. The trucking racket makes money from the NATO transit route in Pakistan along which the security of the convoys is guaranteed, not by the state, but by private contractors and tribes. "The way this has been dealt with is rather absurd. Deals have cut [by NATO] and some appeasement money paid to local contractors and tribes to allow safe passage for these trucks," said Moeed Yusuf, a South Asia adviser at the U.S. Institute of Peace. As a consequence of the deals, the cost of transporting supplies to Afghanistan has multiplied. According to unofficial estimates, the trucking racket earns billions of dollars annually. The trucking racket has played a key role in shipping illicit weapons into Afghanistan and transporting out narcotics. It also controls much of the traffic in commodities that traverse Pakistan tax-free as part of the Afghan Transit Trade Agreement, Ms. Peters said. This trucking racket also has known links to the Taliban. "Powerful trucking families and traders were some of the first to back the Taliban financially, and to this day continue to pay the insurgents to protect commerce," Ms. Peters said. C. Christine Fair, an assistant professor at Georgetown University's Center for Peace and Security Studies, said the enormous profits this racket makes is the reason why the convoys have not been attacked in the past. "The mafia has a huge incentive to make sure that their trucks go through unmolested from Karachi up to Torkham," said Ms. Fair. "Everyone is paid off along the way." She said the trucking mafia will not tolerate a prolonged closure of the Torkham Gate crossing.
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| Posted by: |
| #2 18-wheel Q-ship? |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-10-07 19:37 |
| #1 Seems to me that the UN is paying the terorists off, send some booby trapped trucks through (Say mount a truck shell on a tank) Sur-prise, sur-prise (Best Gomer Pyle accent) |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2010-10-07 14:51 |