http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081116/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan;_ylt=AmkKnPP8PbnWc4V1IHLBnFSs0NUETruck ban hampers supply line to US in Afghanistan
Container trucks and oil tankers bound for U.S and NATO troops in Afghanistan have suspended deliveries after militant attacks prompted Pakistan to block a major supply line, highlighting the vulnerability of the mountain passage.
The ban in northwest Pakistan, confirmed on Sunday, was intended to allow for a review of security in the famed Khyber Pass. The convoys currently have little to no security detail as they travel to Afghanistan with vital food, fuel and other goods
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Last Monday, dozens of suspected Taliban militants hijacked several trucks near the Khyber Pass whose load included Humvees heading to the U.S.-led coalition. Over the weekend, U.S.-led coalition troops reported killing 38 insurgents in fighting in southern Afghanistan and detaining two militant leaders near Pakistan's lawless border.
U.S. and NATO officials in Afghanistan have sought to downplay threats posed to the convoys coming through Pakistan, but NATO has said it is close to striking pacts with Central Asian countries that would let it transport "non-lethal" supplies from north of Afghanistan.
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Most of the supplies headed to foreign troops in Afghanistan arrive in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi in unmarked, sealed shipping containers and are loaded onto trucks for the journey either to the border town of Chaman or on the primary route, through the Khyber Pass.
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