Peshawar: Pakistani Taliban, apparently with help from their Afghan colleagues, are making a determined effort to disrupt supplies destined for Nato forces in Afghanistan.
A suicide bomb attack on a convoy of trucks carrying supplies via the Khyber Pass, yesterday, is the latest evidence of the Taliban gameplan.
Two days ago, a 110-year old bridge built by British colonial rulers had been blown up near Landikotal in the Khyber tribal agency.
Army engineers were promptly summoned to repair the bridge and to cut a motorable road through the dry stream bed in the interim. They are still at work and Nato traffic had been partially restored via the alternative route on Thursday.
The suicide on Friday was reported near Jamrud.
Insurgents have managed to disrupt Nato supplies on a regular basis both on the Peshawar-Khyber route and the Karachi-Quetta-Chaman-Kandahar route. Pakistani Taliban commanders have publicly threatened to cut off the supplies and have been employing new tactics and methods to target the Nato convoys.
The government has meanwhile deployed paramilitary Frontier Corps personnel and tribal militias to escort the Nato convoys from Peshawar up to the Afghan border at Torkham.
The frequent attacks on Nato convoys has prompted the US and Nato commanders to negotiate agreements with Russia and the Central Asian countries to find an alternate route for supplies to Afghanistan.
The Pakistani route however is by far the quickest one and accounts for 80 per cent of all Nato supplies destined for Afghanistan. The demand for supplies would increase as some 30,000 additional US troops proposed to be deployed start arriving in the coming months.
It is strange that the army authorities deny any agreement with Nato for ensuring the security of their supply convoys through Pakistan. An interior ministry spokesman denied any such agreement with Nato authorities existed.
Meanwhile, up to 50,000 people have been displaced from their villages in Swat following the intensified military operation.
