Supply-line attacks exploit vulnerability

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: November 14, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Humvee sped along the dry riverbed. But al-Qaida-linked militants — not American soldiers — were behind the wheel.

Workers on Thursday load cargo bound for neighboring Afghanistan onto a truck near a seaport in Karachi, Pakistan. AP PHOTO

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The scene was captured by AP Television News shortly after about 60 insurgents in northwestern Pakistan hijacked a convoy of trucks carrying vehicles for U.S. troops in Afghanistan as well as wheat for hungry Afghans.

The attack Monday indicated the growing power of Muslim extremists in the border region.

It also highlighted the vulnerability of the supply line U.S. and NATO troops rely on for up to 75 percent of their fuel, food and other logistical goods in the landlocked country.

NATO is close to reaching deals with Central Asian countries that would allow the alliance to truck in "non-lethal” supplies from there, it said.