In These New Times

Destroyed Humvees and military trucks at the Portward Logistic Terminal in Peshawar, Pakistan Photo: AP

The gunmen overpowered and disarmed the security guards, before setting fire to the vehicles, many of which were laden with Humvee armoured cars intended for Western forces.

About three quarters of all the ammunition, food, weapons and other supplies needed by Nato’s troops in Afghanistan, including 8,000 British soldiers, pass through Pakistan. The Taliban have clearly identified this route as a crucial vulnerability.

Most supplies, including fuel, are unloaded in Karachi on the Arabian Sea and then carried along main roads through Pakistan and into Afghanistan via the Khyber Pass. The depot in Peshawar, the nearest city to the Pass which crosses the north-west frontier into Afghanistan, is a vital link in this chain.

The latest attack was a double victory for the Taliban. Earlier incidents had temporarily closed the Khyber Pass, causing a build up of lorries at the depot. A significant portion of this backlog has now been destroyed.

A senior police officer said the attack took place at 2.30am. “They fired rockets, hurled hand grenades and then set ablaze over one hundred trucks,” he said.

One guard was killed and a fire swept through the parked vehicles. “They were shouting Allah-o-Akbar (God is Great) and Down With America. They broke into the terminals after snatching guns from us,” said Mohammad Rafiullah, a security guard the the terminal.

Tariq Hayat Khan, the political agent in charge of Peshawar’s neighbouring Khyber Tribal Area, said that attacks on Nato supplies were the work of a local leader from the Kooki Khel Afridi tribe, who has indirectly allied with Baitullah Mehsud, the head of Pakistan’s wing of the Taliban. Mehsud has publicly vowed to stop Nato supplies from reaching Afghanistan.

Whenever Nato lorries pass through the Khyber, they must travel the 20 miles to the Afghan frontier between 7am and 1pm. Pakistan’s security forces deploy sentries in the mountain heights overlooking the Pass. At sensitive points, “rapid reaction” units are on standby and Cobra gunship helicopters hover overhead.

Tribal leaders loyal to Pakistan’s government deploy armed men on their section of the Pass. Nonetheless, the Khyber is often closed for days at a time. Last month, it was shut for a week when gunmen hijacked a dozen Nato lorries and made off with four Humvee armoured cars.