| Afghanistan – Turmoil continues |
Bad, worse, worst! This is the fate of a country that fell into US hands in 2001. This year, security situation deteriorated, with US airstrikes mistakenly hitting civilian population. The volatility in the South Asian nation became evident when Taliban militants tried to assassinate President Hamid Karzai, who was participating in a parade to celebrate the Afghan National Day.
Also, on July 7, 2008, the Indian Embassy was bombed in Kabul, in one of the deadliest attack in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. The suicide bombing killed 58 people and wounded 141. Unnamed US officials later claimed that members of Pakistan`s ISI were behind the attack.
The Taliban militia also continued to carry out attacks on convoys of NATO-led International Security Assistance Forces. But what was significant this year was that pro-Taliban rebels started targeting NATO convoys in Pakistan too.
In mid-December, pro-Taliban militants destroyed in Peshawar hundreds of NATO military vehicles and supply containers destined for Afghanistan. In other attacks this year, insurgents torched 40-50 NATO oil tankers near Torkham in March. The next month, a military helicopter valued at USD 13 million was hijacked. In November, some 60 Taliban fighters hijacked a convoy of trucks in broad daylight as it was travelling through the Khyber Pass.
About 75 percent of supplies, including food, fuel, equipment and vehicles meant for the allied forces in Afghanistan pass through Pakistan’s Khyber Pass, after being offloaded from ships at the southern port city of Karachi.
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