http://muhammadhood1983.wordpress.com/?p=154&preview=true
Today hours earlier the government of Pakistan has finally officially announced that it has taken the decision to reopen the notorious and much debated NATO Supply route following a (unwritten secret deal) of which contents and terms agreed are untold; between the American and Pakistani authorities. The NATO and ISAF contingents in neighboring Afghanistan can now be resupplied with essential utilities using the route running all across the Pakistani territory.
The news has no impact or surprise at least for me. This is what I have been waiting to hear since January this year. However, the Pakistani side has announced it today after wasting full six months and unjustly prolonging an unnecessarily played out drama to further mislead the ever befooled Pakistani nation. Those who know the “behind the scenes” knew it was imminent and unavoidable. But nobody sane in here speaks up over the forum hence many things remain hidden from media and public and lobbyists get their lies and bluffs sold everywhere.
There has been hoopla in Pakistani society and politics over the disputed supply route since early years of Allied entry in Afghanistan. On many forums and occasions it was demanded of the government of Pakistan to close the route and disengage from global War on Terror. Not only fundamentalists or the Mullahs but few military circles are said to be against Pakistan’s role (being a Muslim state) in international efforts suppressing so called Islamist militancy or more obviously Al Qaeda and Taliban. In connection to the above the NATO Supply route offered by Pakistan in those early years has since then always been an issue of hot debates in country’s politics, society and military for no gain.
The road supply proposal and its feasibility were agreed if not apparently made by both sides mutually in sometime last quarter of 2001. Pakistan then was under military rule of General Pervez Musharraf solely. It is quite pertinent to know and as I have stated so many times that Musharraf has had many times defined the evolution and background of everything that took place in period 2001-2002; subsequent to what situation and events Pakistan was “forcibly drawn” into the Alliance and things began to change afterwards.
The NATO Supply route in Pakistan runs almost a thousand miles from Karachi Port at the Southern tip of Pakistan in Arabian Sea to Kabul in Afghanistan. It has two prongs in different directions reaching Northwest Pakistani border through first crossing Sind, Punjab and Frontier provinces to Kabul and the second through Baluchistan linking ISAF bases in Kandahar in Southern Afghanistan. Since the ancient times everybody knows that for an army a “supply line is the lifeline”. Obviously in our case this thousand mile long road supply line across one of the most notorious countryside with no modern logistic infrastructure is surely a highly sensitive matter for the most sophisticated armed forces in the world.
Allies have said the following years earlier in an analysis,
The U.S. engagement in Afghanistan, including the 30,000 “plus-up” currently underway, represents one of the most difficult logistical challenges in the annals of war – a challenge even for the United States, which is the world champion of supply solutions.
Keeping the supply vulnerability of precious cargo in mind with an ever increasing threat of disruption, theft and destruction in a lawless country like Pakistan, the Allies have had worked out plans of alternative resupply routes for their troops in Afghanistan in 2006-2007. The new proposals given were to seek other possible routes entering Afghanistan from North. Serious diplomatic efforts have won NATO the safer and constant resupply routes through Caucasus and Baltic regions of the former USSR. Beginning practically in 2009 the multiple approaches program called the “Northern Distribution Network NDN” has its logistic lines running on multiple routes through Central Asian states of Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and others. The new transport includes all air, sea, rail and road cargo provided to Allies by these states. The biggest of all wonders in NATO supply drama came when Russians announced in 2009 that they allow not only Europeans in ISAF but US forces to use Russian airspace to fly men and weapons into Afghanistan. Russia has extended its cooperation by allowing the Allies to use her massive railway lines built in late 70s to supply Soviet armies during their stay in Afghanistan.
The effort and results mentioned above have allowed NATO forces to significantly reduce their dependence over mistrusted Pakistan’s dangerous supply routes and according to official reports the Allies have had shifted about seventy percent of their total supply load from Pakistan to Central Asian states in Afghanistan’s North in 2009-2010. The cargo transported through North included fuel, ammunition plus food & medics. However the NDN has cost NATO partners many times higher than the almost free transportation the Alliance enjoyed in Pakistan for years.
Pakistan has had blocked the routes at least twice. Both times in protest over NATO attacks on Pakistan army troops in the Pak-Afghan border region. The latest and longest suspension of NATO supply route in Pakistan came after when in an air raid over two of Pakistani outposts on the border the NATO helicopters killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November 2011. The first Pakistani reaction to this brutal killing was intense; with total suspension of NATO supply route while the NATO explained it was a mistake; with an even unjust explanation that the air strike was the response of the firing from Pakistani side. BBC says,
The dispute began in November last year when two dozen Pakistani soldiers were killed as US air strikes hit two posts on the Afghan border.
At the time, Afghan officials said that NATO forces had been retaliating for gunfire from the Pakistani side of the volatile border, but Pakistan rejected that claim.
For last eight months, the killing of soldiers and blockade of supply has been considerably debated if not controversially. The court, military, the public and the government of Pakistan all have been guessing the outcome of the harsh dispute between US and Pakistan. And not surprisingly most Pakistanis opposed to reopen supply. There was great American pressure over Pakistan to open the routes for whatsoever reasons despite the fact that more than quarter of Coalition’s total cargo is supplied not from Pakistan but from Central Asia even before blockade and a 100% NDN supply during suspension. There are other truths behind Allied supply drama being staged out by Americans also. Some points are following,
1—we must keep in mind that NATO forces not only depend on (declared) road transportation routes through Pakistan. There is constant presence of American air and naval contingents in Arabian Sea waters allowing US to run secret logistic and strategic operations in extensive coastal region of Pakistan’s Baluchistan province. Through their presence in this highly untouched, unthreatened remote coastal region Americans can quietly achieve some of the grandest strategic objectives. This is the ideal place from where and within shortest possible distance a fully paced war effort in Afghanistan and an ever watchful eye over Iran can be maintained simultaneously. We must not forget that US aircraft are freely flown into Southern Afghanistan through Pakistani airspace in Baluchistan even during blockade.
2—US airforce has its permanent presence inside Pakistan. So many sources either private or official have confirmed it. Jacobabad in Sind and Shamsi in Baluchistan are known bases used by Americans where no Pakistani neither civilian nor military personnel has access allowed; who knows where else do the US planes take off and land too? Nobody believes in government of Pakistan at least which even says that US forces have evacuated Shamsi airbase when they were ordered by Pakistani authorities in reaction to NATO air raid in November last year.
3—the financial cost of the NDN perhaps may be the major reason behind the intense American pressure over Pakistani government to reopen the routes. According to official reports, the NDN costs NATO partners some five times more than what they have been expending to supply from Pakistan. Also the NDN has its stretches of about 3000 miles in reaching destination and takes some 45 days to arrive.
When the initial talks over settlement of dispute and reopening of routes began earlier this year, both parties have had put forward immediate demands in return. However, unfortunately as always, the Government of Pakistan played out a smart drama fooling out the nation with the widespread of notion that this time it won’t compromise over national sovereignty, pride and its stand against Allied aggression. America and NATO must formally apologize over killing of Pakistani troops with the guarantee that no such incident will ever happen again. US Predator UAV Drone attacks inside Pakistani territory must be stopped at once. 5000 US Dollars to be paid to Pakistan for each container shipped to Afghanistan via our routes plus the Allies must pay the repairs cost of the Pakistani roads network been badly damaged by running heavy NATO supply containers for more than ten years. In all of a sudden and at first instance Pakistani nation was shocked to see their government’s unlikely stand. However those who know knew it since day one that it was a drama being played out just to avoid immediate public resentment against the government and its unjust pro American attitude with what it has already compromised everything an independent country can’t do. By doing so the Pakistani government has smartly fooled the nation which is already affected by constant disturbance and anarchy in Pakistan. Some points are following,
1—why did the Pakistani government take a decision and did it after playing a drama for over six months when there was nothing for it to decide? In other words that this was not up to the government of Pakistan to decide what to become of NATO supply line in Pakistan. Do Pakistanis command the course of global war on terror in Afghanistan? The answer is no. The Pakistani government hastily and erroneously said something in frustration just to seek its immediate way out of obvious domestic troubles. This face saving first helped the government escape public, military and its own parliamentary opposition’s immediate resentment over the NATO air raid but as the time progressed it got caught in its own created consequences.
2—none of the demands of Pakistan is agreed or met by US and its NATO Allies. After eight months of harsh allegations, brave exaggerations and promises to the Pakistani nation the government has finally done what it had to do since the day one. The Coalition is not going to pay neither per container truck price nor any road damages to Pakistan; even so, terming Pakistan’s demand as “extortion”, US Senator John McCain, a former Republican presidential aspirant, had claimed that the US was paying $250 per container to Pakistan. There is no guarantee of avoiding helicopter and drone strikes inside Pakistani territory. There is no official apology from President Barack Obama to the Pakistani nation; just a statement issued that Hillary Clinton apologized with her Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar on telephone. Since their first landing, of all the Allied forces in Afghanistan the weapons and ammunition supply has never been done other than their own airlift; so why did the Pakistani government announce that the permission is only granted for non-lethal weapons. How hilariously idiot our Federal Info Minister (Qamar Zaman Kaira) is who says such words in press conference in Islamabad earlier tonight. Somebody should have asked him that “can you please name a single weapon in the world which is not lethal?” so why should Americans or we care about their undergarments, chocolates, cigarettes or bed sheets being transported through land either from Pakistan or NDN?
BBC says,
There were several surprises on how Nato supply routes were reopened through Pakistan on Tuesday. The Americans finally said sorry for the 26 November attack, and Pakistan decided to forego the transit fees and other benefits they were demanding.
More surprisingly, the announcement came first from the US. It appears Pakistan needed a face-saver to avoid falling deeper into international isolation. Its powerful military, seen as the prime mover behind the Nato blockade, shared in the decision to open routes with the politicians.
But this seven-month standoff has clearly shown the pitfalls in the US-Pakistan relationship. The Americans will continue to feel the need to keep Pakistan’s influence in Afghanistan at a minimum, and will remain wary of Islamabad’s tendency to whip up anti-Americanism at home to achieve regional objectives.
3—why don’t we think for a moment that who we are? We cannot make the things go the way we want them to be. We cannot control our own national lands and airspace. We cannot hold Raymond Davis (or whatever his name was) responsible for murdering two Pakistani men in broad daylight and execute him as per own country’s laws just like Americans do in theirs. We are still puzzling that how did Osama Bin Laden get into Pakistan and Americans tracked him out, took him and sneaked away back safe while we slept.
4— unbiased—I am a Pakistani and a realist. I am not type of a person who tends to live with exaggerations and fantasies. You will find most of my countrymen much emotional and when it’s about facing our so called enemies… with raising fists and loud slogans…well we are real nerds! In fact Pakistanis only know what they are taught, told or shown. They are naturally oblivious to anything because of shortsightedness, propaganda and above all illiteracy. The biggest example is the raid by half a dozen navy seal choppers from Bagram airfield inside hundreds of kilometers of Pakistani territory said to be well defended against any intrusion by a cleverly fielded network of air defense including SAMs, Airborne Early Warning and more than 400 fighters including nearly 70 Fighting Falcons models ranging A-D. The raid that targeted Bin Laden is still a mystery and cause of bitter panic within Pakistani armed forces, the government, the intelligence and the nation itself.
So as said right above… in Pakistan people only know what they are taught, told or shown. In other words Pakistanis are fed to digest what they are wanted to busy themselves with. The main role is played by the media here. This is in fact the electronic media like cable TV channels in Pakistan now which maintain the course of the environmental situation and public’s response thereof. No productive role is played by the media here. Except so many useless and countless hours of unnecessary talk shows running round the clock on almost 50 stations for no gain, the media in Pakistan has nothing to show. These talk shows are nothing but junk debates between rival political groups. The impact of this nowadays TV freakiness is so high and apparent that I quietly see the people in my surroundings talk about this year’s Euro 2012 finals which were much hailed if not broadcasted by the local media; without actually knowing anything about soccer, the tournament, contestants and match venues. Pakistan is a land where soccer has no past, present or future.
Pakistan ka khuda hi hafiz…
References:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18691691
http://www.europeaninstitute.org/February-%E2%80%93-March-2010/new-supply-front-for-afghan-war-runs-across-russia-georgia-and-the-stans.html
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2012/07/01/news/national/nato-blockade-costing-us-an-extra-2-1-billion-report/
http://tribune.com.pk/story/384794/reopening-nato-supply-govt-justifies-5000-fee-for-shipping-containers/
http://in.news.yahoo.com/pakistan-haggling-us-5-000-dollars-transit-fee-104437026.html
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/columns/03-Feb-2012/cost-of-nato-s-adventurism
http://tribune.com.pk/story/372645/nato-supply-routes-closure-causing-massive-equipment-backlog-us-dod/
http://tribune.com.pk/story/378830/us-pakistan-is-making-progress-on-nato-supply-routes-state-department/
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/news/articles/eav031809d.shtml
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insightb/articles/eav051109a.shtml
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/21/afghanistan-first-major-railway-opens
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_NATO_attack_in_Pakistan
