Sir: Reports from inside Afghanistan speak of NATO, ISAF and US forces destroying heavy war machinery in their bid for making preparations to vacate the country. The big question is: why destroy and not hand over this machinery to the Afghan National Army or Afghan National Police? The answer is that the US can no longer trust the Afghans who are not even the Taliban. Secondly, the destruction of these items is not as costly as the travel and shipment charges back home, either through the Pakistani route or from the northern distribution network (NDN). Though the NATO supply route has already been opened from Pakistan’s side, the US has been giving the impression that the two-month halt of NATO containers from Pakistan (ever since the US attack on the Salala check post, which killed 24 of Pakistan’s soldiers) did not impact its supply or affect the cost, which is much cheaper than the NDN.
The Central Asian states host the NDN, which enables movement of NATO supplies and troops to Afghanistan. However, the fact remains, according to US estimates, that 55 percent of non-lethal cargo at present goes through the NDN using the road and rail network. The long distance, the unfriendly terrain, the environment and condition of roads cause the US to pay six times more than what is required to use the Pakistan route. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) of the US was particularly perturbed over the closure of the Pakistan route by Islamabad in protest against the NATO attack. The delay by the Pakistan government in accepting the US’s demand for reopening the supply route and the Torkham border for NATO containers, made a huge impact on the US’s economy. Though plans were underway to further increase the NDN’s capacity, many hurdles are unlikely to be overcome. The cargo passing through Pakistan can only be subjected to terrorist attacks, which have seldom occurred. However, when lethal cargo is added to the traffic on NDN routes, it will definitely invite the wrath of terrorists. Hence, the NDN could not replace the Pakistani route to sustain NATO forces in Afghanistan. Nawaz Sharif asserted in his August 14, 2013 speech at the convention centre, in the presence of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, that Pakistan has such a significant standing amongst the comity of nations that no one can take decisions without Pakistan’s inclusion. Wisdom demands that Nawaz Sharif use this advantage courageously yet pragmatically.
ESCHMALL SARDAR
Peshawar