Taliban intercepting, stealing NATO supplies

Telegraph:

The suspected mastermind behind Benazir Bhutto's assassination has stolen sophisticated Nato equipment by raiding the alliance's supply lines running through Pakistani territory.

Baitullah Mehsud, the Taliban commander who American officials hold responsible for Miss Bhutto's death, has emerged as a threat to the flow of supplies for British and American forces fighting in neighbouring Afghanistan.

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A senior government official, based near the frontier town of Tank, told The Daily Telegraph that Mehsud's men regularly ambushed container lorries carrying hardware bound for Nato forces in Afghanistan.

Their latest target was a supply convoy outside the town of Dera Ismail Khan on the Indus Highway, one of Pakistan's main arteries.

"They managed to single out the most important lorries, removed the drivers and then vanished the consignment lock stock and barrel," said the official.

"Among the booty they discovered trucks carrying cargos of pristine 4x4 military vehicles, fitted with the most modern communications and listening technology," he added.

The official added that Mehsud's gunmen lacked the expertise to operate the equipment. So they enlisted the help of Uzbek and other foreign militants who are based in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas lining the north-west frontier.

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About 40 per cent of the supplies needed for Nato's 42,000 soldiers in Afghanistan pass through Pakistan. The vital supply routes follow the Indus valley from the port city of Karachi to the border town of Peshawar.

They enter Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass. Other border crossings from Pakistan's province of Baluchistan are also used.

The main supply route appears to take them through hostile territory. I suspect that the "lorries" (Brit speak for 18 wheelers) are probably locally owned and operated which adds another element of inadequate operational security. NATO needs to find a way to guard these convoys or get the Pakistan army to do so. In the meantime Mehsud is probably burning through his booty pretty quickly now that his forces have come under attack by the Pakistan army. The Taliban are generally not equipped for cold weather fighting unless they snagged some lorries with winter clothing on them.