NATO supply routes closure causing massive equipment backlog: US DoD

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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Pak Army Chief General Ashfaq Will Meet Gen Mattis & Gen John Today

Pak Army Chief General Ashfaq will meet Gen Mattis & Gen John today.commander of U.S. Central Command James Matisse North Road, and the commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, John Allen will appeal to the Pakistani army Chief of Staff General Kayan Swayze TODAY ‘Today (Wednesday).
According to inter-utility (ISPR) issued a statement, it was the events Salala after the first high-level meeting will focus on the investigation into this incident and improve coordination procedures at borders.
The meeting was also the day after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and President Barack Obama at the summit meeting in Seoul in nuclear margin.

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Prosperity in Pakistan begets Serenity in Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday said peace in Afghanistan was critical for the peace and security in Pakistan.

He said Pakistan always supported Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s peace efforts and would continue favour an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process of reconciliation.

In a meeting with delegation of Afghan Senators led by Fazal-e-Hadi Muslimyar at the PM House, the prime minister emphasised upon exchanging parliamentary delegations to strengthen their brotherly relations and between the peoples of the two countries.

He said exchange visits of parliamentarians were essential to enhance bilateral relations and Pakistan had always made consistent and sincere efforts to improve relations with Afghanistan.

He recalled that Pakistan did extend full cooperation to the Afghan team that visited Islamabad with regard to the investigation of assassination of Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani.

The Prime Minister said Pakistan was committed to complete the construction of Torkham-Jalalabad Road.

He mentioned that Pakistan was offering 2,000 fully funded scholarships to the Afghan students and agreed to enhance the number of scholarships on the request of the leader of Afghan delegation.

Earlier, Chairman Senate Farooq H. Naik while addressing the members of the Afghan delegation said Pakistan attached much importance to its relations with Afghanistan because both the countries share common religion, culture, history and geographical proximity.

Leader of Afghan delegation Fazal-e-Hadi Muslimyar highlighted the commonalities between the people of two countries spread over the centuries, adding this had brought them together to strive for the common destiny of peace and prosperity.

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US Army Suicides Rise Up to 80% Since The Start Of The Iraq War

Suicide among young Army personnel rose 80% between 2004 and 2008, according to the Los Angeles Times. In the last two years that had data available for the study — 2007 and 2008 — 255 soldiers took their lives. The authors of the study, the Army Public Health Command (APHC), estimated that 25% to 50% of the suicides were directly related to combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Suicide rates among active US Army personnel were decreasing between 1977 and 2003.

The number of suicides is "unprecedented in over 30 years of US Army records," according to the APHC, and the increase in deaths parallels the increasing rates of depression and other mental health conditions among soldiers, reported The Daily Mail.

The study's authors called the high presence of mental health disorders among enlisted personnel "sentinels for suicide risk," according to The Baltimore Sun. From 2000 to 2008, adjustment disorders, mood disorders, anxiety disorders and substance-abuse disorders have soared among Army personnel. During the same time, the number of visits for mental health disorders in the Army nearly doubled.

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