Wednesday, November 19, 2008

How they killed the Russians ...

It's amazing the deja vu going on here for me. A little over 25 years ago, we were involved in supplying money and arms through Pakistan to the 'freedom fighters' in Afghanistan. They used the same tactics against Russian convoys as they're using against us:

TORKHAM, Afghanistan, Nov. 18 -- A rise in Taliban attacks along the length of a vital NATO supply route that runs through this border town in the shadow of the Khyber Pass has U.S. officials seeking alternatives, including the prospect of beginning deliveries by a tortuous overland journey from Europe.

Supplying troops in landlocked Afghanistan has long been the Achilles' heel of foreign armies here, most recently the Soviets, whose forces were nearly crippled by Islamist insurgent attacks on vulnerable supply lines. [my em]

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You can have as many 'boots on the ground' as you want. If you can't rearm, refuel, and replenish them, they ain't worth shit.

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About 75 percent of NATO and U.S. supplies bound for Afghanistan -- including gas, food and military equipment -- are transported over land through Pakistan. The journey begins in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi and continues north through Pakistan's volatile North-West Frontier Province and tribal areas before supplies arrive at the Afghan border. The convoys then press forward along mountain hairpin turns through areas of Afghanistan that are known as havens for insurgents.

Drivers at this busy border crossing say death threats from the Taliban arrive almost daily. Sometimes they come in the form of a letter taped to the windshield of a truck late at night. Occasionally, a dispatcher receives an early-morning phone call before a convoy sets off from Pakistan. More often, the threats are delivered at the end of a gun barrel.

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The growing danger has forced the Pentagon to seek far longer, but possibly safer, alternate routes through Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, according to Defense Department documents. A notice to potential contractors by the U.S. Transportation Command in September said that "strikes, border delays, accidents and pilferage" in Pakistan and the risk of "attacks and armed hijackings" in Afghanistan posed "a significant risk" to supplies for Western forces in Afghanistan.

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The Taliban (al-Qaeda) are making it difficult to resupply our guys, costing us more in lives and money. Eventually, it will be cost-prohibitive to remain. As I've said many times, just because people read history doesn't mean they learn from it. It is why we continue to make the mistakes of the past. Ask the British. Ask the Russians.

Thanks to b @ MoA for the link.

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