| GEO Pakistan | | Supplies for Afghan forces disrupted at Khyber Pass | Updated at: 1359 PST, Monday, January 19, 2009
LANDIKOTAL: Western military supplies to Afghanistan were suspended through Pakistan's Khyber Pass on Monday after militants attacked an army camp, killing a paramilitary soldier and wounding 10, an official said.
Pakistani supply routes from the port of Karachi to land-locked Afghanistan are vital for Western forces battling a resurgent Taliban. They are likely to become even more important as the United States builds up its Afghanistan force, perhaps doubling it to 60,000 soldiers, this year. A government official in the region said supplies through the Khyber had been suspended indefinitely after militants attacked the military camp with rocket-propelled grenades. "We're preparing for an assault. We have imposed curfew in Landikotal and Jamrud. The border is also closed," said ZarBacha Khan, referring to main towns in the Khyber region. The U.S. military sends 75 percent of supplies for the Afghan war through or over Pakistan, including 40 percent of the fuel for its troops, the U.S. Defence Department says.
|  |
|