November 20, 2008	Thursday	Ziqa'ad 21, 1429

WASHINGTON, Nov 19: The United States is seeking alternative supply routes for Nato troops in Afghanistan, including a tortuous overland journey from Europe, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

The United States currently uses the Karachi-Khyber Pass route for supplying 67,000 foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan, including 32,000 Americans. Nearly half of US forces operate under Nato command.

About 75 per cent of Nato and US supplies bound for Afghanistan — including petrol, food and military equipment — are transported overland through Pakistan.

Last week, Pakistan was forced to suspend supplies after militants launched back-to-back assaults on US convoys and hijacked 13 trucks.

The supplies resumed on Monday after Pakistan beefed up security along the route that passes through the lawless tribal region. But the attacks forced the Pentagon to expedite its efforts for developing alternative routes.

The Post has obtained US Defence Department documents showing that the Pentagon is seeking far longer, but possibly safer, alternate routes through Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

In September, the US Transportation Command sent a notice to potential contractors saying that “strikes, border delays, accidents and pilferage” in Pakistan and the risk of “attacks and armed hijackings” in Afghanistan posed “a significant risk” to supplies for Western forces in Afghanistan.

The Post noted that supplying troops in landlocked Afghanistan had long been the Achilles’ heel of foreign armies, most recently the Soviets, whose forces were nearly crippled by Mujahideen attacks on vulnerable supply lines.

The Post noted that last week’s attacks on supply trucks in the Khyber Agency was one in a series in recent months that had cost Nato suppliers millions in losses this year. In March, insurgents set fire to 40 to 50 Nato oil tankers near Torkham. A month later, Taliban raiders made off with military helicopter engines valued at about $13 million.

Forced by these attacks, the United States has already begun negotiations with countries along what the Pentagon has called a new northern route.

An agreement with Georgia has been reached and talks are ongoing with Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, according to an Oct 31 Pentagon document. “We do not expect transit agreements with Iran or Uzbekistan,” the Transportation Command told potential contractors.