"Afghanistan border crossing vital to US buildup of troops; Pakistan military, suspected drug lord control area" by Joshua Partlow, Washington Post | January 24, 2010
SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan - The pace of President Obama’s troop buildup in Afghanistan hinges in part on a narrow, pothole-scarred dirt track that is controlled by a 33-year-old suspected drug lord and by the whims of the Pakistani military.
It is down this road each month that thousands of cargo trucks bearing US and NATO military supplies pass through the only major border crossing in southern Afghanistan - the area where most American troop reinforcements are scheduled to deploy.
I thought we were getting help from Russia, Uzbekistan and the rest. You know, so we wouldn't need Pakistan anymore.
Here at the border crossing, where traffic switches from the left side of the road in Pakistan to the right in Afghanistan, supply trucks must pass along with the flood of pedestrians, donkey carts, drug shipments, and materials to make roadside bombs. Only about 2 to 3 percent of the vehicles are regularly searched, and payoffs to border guards are rampant, US military officials say.
The chaos and congestion of this border crossing have become a matter of urgent concern as military logisticians scramble to fulfill Obama’s plan for bringing 30,000 more US troops to Afghanistan this year. Compounding the problem is that Pakistan has been slow to respond to US proposals to create a separate lane for coalition military vehicles and nighttime crossing rights, US officials say.
Talk about TAKING OVER a COUNTRY without taking over a country!!!!
General Stanley McChrystal, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, flew to Quetta, Pakistan, last week to meet with Pakistani military commanders, then toured the border crossing with officials from both countries....
Hastening overland supplies of fuel, food, and military equipment to Afghanistan is just one issue in a frenzy of logistical work that is required to feed, house, and protect soldiers coming to fight. The military is rushing to construct and expand military bases, dig wells, and build power plants, dining halls, aircraft landing strips, and temporary housing.
Amazing how they can do all that in a war zone but f*** up Haiti so badly, huh?
Major General Don Riley, the chief engineer for US forces in Afghanistan, said the pace of traffic through Spin Boldak needs to increase to 150 NATO supply trucks a day, up from the average of just under 100. These additional trucks are needed, among other reasons, to meet the military’s demand for fuel, which is expected to increase by 30 to 40 percent.
And they are ALREADY the BIGGEST POLLUTER on the PLANET!!!
Yeah, WHERE ARE THE ENVIRO-CULTISTS when it comes to the WAR MACHINE?
The US military has longer-term plans to build a bypass road around the crossing.
I guess SOVEREIGNTY means VERY LITTLE when it comes to Pakistan.
In the short term, it is pushing for overnight access through the border. But for the past month, Pakistan has given little ground. Part of the problem is apparently bureaucracy, with at least five Pakistani agencies involved in providing security for NATO convoys between the port city of Karachi and the border. There is trouble on the Afghan side as well. The urgency to increase the flow of military supplies has forced the US military to rely heavily on Abdul Razziq, the illiterate local commander of the Afghan border police.
According to US military officials, Razziq wields near total control over Spin Boldak and the border crossing. Razziq, a former anti-Taliban fighter, owns a trucking company, commands 3,500 police, effectively controls the local government, and reportedly takes in millions from extorting passing vehicles and trafficking drugs. Razziq can shut down the border crossing at will. He also provides intelligence to Americans about potential attacks and keeps the insurgency in check in his area.
Readers, the DRUG DEALER is ONE OF OUR AGENTS!!!!!!!!!
He says he is amenable to US plans to fast-track NATO supplies but has tried to keep US soldiers at arm’s length at the crossing point.
Wouldn't you?
Razziq said the allegations against him are “totally baseless,’’ and that in the past three months his police has confiscated 11 tons of drugs and arrested at least 15 traffickers.
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And what don't you here a lot about over here in AmeriKa?
Firefighters extinguished a burning NATO supply truck outside Peshawar yesterday, which was destroyed by Taliban militants in northwest Pakistan, police said. (Hasham Ahmed/ AFP/ Getty Images)
Happens all the time.
That's why the WaPo is worried.
How come it didn't make the print?
