By Nigel Chamberlain, NATO Watch
At least nine fuel tankers were destroyed after an explosion in one of the vehicles triggered a huge fire in Hub, Balochistan on 15 September, just 45 kilometres from the port of Karachi where the tankers were loaded for transit to NATO forces in Afghanistan. This happened less than two weeks after oil shipments resumed through Pakistan, supposedly under tighter security after a five-month suspension. Contractors had stopped driving oil supplies from Karachi to the Torkham crossing on the Afghan border due to frequent strikes on their vehicles.
DawnNews reported that at least nine tankers transporting fuel for NATO forces were torched after being attacked by motorcyclists in the Sohrab district of Balochistan near Kalat on Friday 13 September and Afghan Taliban launched a major attack on a US forces' base in eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, close to the Pakistani border, on 2 September. Several vehicles were reportedly destroyed in the attack which closed the Jalalabad-Torkham highway, a key route for NATO logistics and supply convoys.
The Balochistan Home Ministry of Pakistan reported on 30 August that 141 NATO containers and tankers, which were carrying supplies for the International Security Assistance Force(ISAF) in Afghanistan from the port in Karachi to the major border crossing at Wesh-Chaman, were looted and then torched. It is believed that seven people were killed and more than a dozen wounded.
Unofficial sources claimed that the number of incidents of looting NATO containers and tankers are much higher than officially recognised. Stolen goods are openly sold in the markets of Balochistan Province. At the time of the lifting of the ban on the movement of NATO supplies through the region in July 2012, Chief Minister Aslam Raisani admitted that he was unable to provide security for the convoys due to a lack of resources.
Earlier in August it was reported that Taliban fighters attacked a fuel convoy in the Balablock District of Farah Province where Afghanistan shares a border with Iran. Local officials said that the militants launched a rocket attack, setting 40 vehicles on fire. Six drivers were reportedly killed and ten others injured.
On 23 August Taliban fighters torched four fuel tankers in Wardak Province. On 16 August Taliban fighters torched four fuel tankers in Farah Province. On 25 July a Taliban spokesman announced that 15 NATO fuel tankers had been attacked and destroyed in Farah Province. The Taliban have redoubled their efforts to drive foreign combat troops out of the country ahead of the planned withdrawal by the end of 2014.
NATO reports that more than four million litres of fuel have been used per day by NATO forces in Afghanistan, most of it transported over land, through areas of a high risk of deadly insurgent attacks. Analysts say militants continue to view attacks on international coalition troops and their supply lines as their most effective way back to power in Afghanistan.
In July 2012, Pakistan and the United States signed an agreement that would re-open land routes, after a seven month blockade, to NATO convoys until the end of 2015 – with an option to renew annually. The United States agreed to release $1.1 billion under the Coalition Support Fund to reimburse Pakistan for fighting militants within its borders. The agreement specified routes to be taken by the convoys and guidelines for non- lethal supplies that may not be transported through Pakistan, although armoured vehicles and Humvees were permitted provided they were not mounted with weapons. Significantly, the US would not provide security for the convoys. That would be Pakistan's responsibility.
Meanwhile, Russian media report that the Ulyanovsk trans-shipment hub that Russia made available to NATO a year ago has remained idle and that NATO Member States have not signed any contracts with Russian freight companies authorised to service Ulyanovsk. Sources at the NATO HQ in Brussels told Kommersant that Russian companies had quoted unreasonable prices, while a Russian Government source insisted that the alliance was simply reluctant to end up being dependent on Moscow.
Russia had already become home to a portion of a route called the ‘Northern Distribution Network’, which is used to ship more than 60% of ISAF’s non-military cargo to Afghanistan by air and by rail, but without transshipment. Moscow had hoped that a considerable portion of the more than 100,000 containers and 60,000 vehicles that ISAF planned to pull out of Afghanistan would be sent to Europe via Ulyanovsk. It has been speculated that NATO representatives were in parallel talks with Central Asian States who may have agreed to reduce their transportation fees rather than lose contracts to Russia.
Commercial considerations certainly are a major factor in decision-making as outlined by US Ambassador to Lithuania Deborah Ann McCarthy. Responding to suggestions that the Lithuanian port of Klaipėda could be used for returning military equipment to her country, she said:
There is an element of competition in here because a lot of decisions that we will make are based on commercial terms, so that is something that we have to be conscious of. But Lithuania has a lot to offer. It has a major port that has some unique abilities, and I think in that sense it stands very good chances of definitely participating in the whole process.
Competition is certainly in prospect in the Baltic States. Freight shipments to Afghanistan via Latvia began in February 2009. Earlier this month, Lithuanian media reported that NATO shipments for Afghanistan through the Latvian port of Riga might be re-routed to Klaipeda. A delegation of US experts inspected Latvian transport infrastructure last week.
So, just how much further forward is NATO in planning for the withdrawal of its forces and equipment than it was when NATO Watch reviewed this issue in our April Briefing Paper: ‘Plans for the withdrawal from Afghanistan remain sketchy and the logistics are hellish’?
