US Department of Defense says closure of Nato supply routes backlogging thousands of tons of equipment. PHOTO: AFP/ FILE
WASHINGTON: The US Department of Defense’s (DoD) semi-annual Afghanistan report says the closure of the Nato supply routes in Pakistan has led to the backlogging of thousands of tons of equipment.
In the report on progress towards Afghanistan’s stability and security that is based on events from October 2011 to March 2012 and has been submitted to Congress, the Department of Defense says that the closure of the Pakistan Ground Lines of Communication (GLOCs) remains a strategic concern. “Failure to settle the GLOC issue will also significantly degrade redeployment and retrograde operations in support of the drawdown of coalition forces.”
The report cites the impact the closure of the Nato supply routes has had on equipment needs for Afghan forces. The Nato supply routes were closed in October 2011, after 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in a Nato strike on the Pak-Afghan border.
The Afghan National Police remains under-equipped, says the report, and there will be shortages of equipment especially vehicles for Afghan National Army (ANA) units due to the closure of the GLOCs. Over 4000 vehicles meant to be used for the ANA, said the DoD report, remain stranded in Pakistan. “Reopening the GLOCs would improve the US and coalition forces’ mission flexibility and build capacity.”
US forces in Afghanistan have been relying primarily on the Northern Distribution Network (NDN) through Central Asian nations for sending supplies to forces. The report says that it has “ensured the sustainment needs of coalition forces and allowed initial proof of principle shipments for retrograding material from Afghanistan to the United States” through the NDN.
However, “the closure of the GLOCs has had a more limited effect on communications equipment and weapons, the delivery of which continues via air lines of communication (ALOCs). Fielding priorities for the next 180 days are expected to be met if Pakistani GLOCs are restored.”
The closure of the GLOCs has also had an impact on the completion of the Kandahar-Helmand Power Plant program, and has created a backlog of electrical materials required for the project, says the report. DoD says that unless the border reopens or alternate routes are used, which will increase the cost of the project, the US could see a “potentially one-year delay in getting Kandahar distribution upgrade materials in the country.”
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