In December of 2008, the Bush Administration released a report stating, “A modern Afghan democracy -- stable and free of extremists -- may be both unattainable and unaffordable.” President Obama has changed course from this assessment by stating, as a policy of his administration, that Afghanistan is the “central front in the war on terror” and vital to our success combating extremism. The President wants to send an additional 30,000 soldiers into Afghanistan to counter the growing extremist influence. An equal number of NATO soldiers, not from the United States, are hoped to accompany this increase. To sustain this increase protecting supply routes must be made a priority.
Extremist groups in Pakistan have recently begun a large effort to attack NATO supply convoys going along the critical supply route stretching from the port city of Karachi to Peshawar, and through the Khyber Pass to Kabul. More than 300 NATO vehicles and containers have been destroyed in a series of attacks on shipping terminals in Peshawar as well as attacks on convoys moving through the region. Since roughly 75 percent of NATO and United States supplies move through Pakistan, this trend is particularly worrisome.
A vital airbase, located in Kyrgyzstan, is also on the brink of being closed. The Manas Air Base has begun closing procedures after negotiations broke down on compensation. It is widely believed that Russian influence is behind the closing, and Russia has offered an aid package worth $2 billion to the impoverished nation.
The loss of supply routes in Pakistan, as well as the Kyrgyz airbase would be a devastating blow to continuing ground operations. Afghanistan, as a landlocked nation with very few passable roads is very difficult to supply using current routes. In the absence of these routes, new routes would need to be found, and they would most likely be even less developed, more expensive, and much harder to defend. These alternative routes would have to include multiple other nations, and would be almost impossible to keep together. The cost of setting up these routes seems to outweigh the potential benefits.
So, the point is this. As more soldiers get set to deploy to Afghanistan, what is being done to maintain and protect supply routes into the country? Without these routes, the United States will not be able to maintain any increase in troop strength in country, thus making the current strategy of the Obama Administration unsustainable and unwinnable.
Protecting the supply routes should be made a vital priority, however it seems little if anything is being done to ensure this. Why?
Extremist groups in Pakistan have recently begun a large effort to attack NATO supply convoys going along the critical supply route stretching from the port city of Karachi to Peshawar, and through the Khyber Pass to Kabul. More than 300 NATO vehicles and containers have been destroyed in a series of attacks on shipping terminals in Peshawar as well as attacks on convoys moving through the region. Since roughly 75 percent of NATO and United States supplies move through Pakistan, this trend is particularly worrisome.
A vital airbase, located in Kyrgyzstan, is also on the brink of being closed. The Manas Air Base has begun closing procedures after negotiations broke down on compensation. It is widely believed that Russian influence is behind the closing, and Russia has offered an aid package worth $2 billion to the impoverished nation.
The loss of supply routes in Pakistan, as well as the Kyrgyz airbase would be a devastating blow to continuing ground operations. Afghanistan, as a landlocked nation with very few passable roads is very difficult to supply using current routes. In the absence of these routes, new routes would need to be found, and they would most likely be even less developed, more expensive, and much harder to defend. These alternative routes would have to include multiple other nations, and would be almost impossible to keep together. The cost of setting up these routes seems to outweigh the potential benefits.
So, the point is this. As more soldiers get set to deploy to Afghanistan, what is being done to maintain and protect supply routes into the country? Without these routes, the United States will not be able to maintain any increase in troop strength in country, thus making the current strategy of the Obama Administration unsustainable and unwinnable.
Protecting the supply routes should be made a vital priority, however it seems little if anything is being done to ensure this. Why?