WASHINGTON: Cargo lines through Pakistan need to reopen for the United States to bring troops and equipment back on schedule as the war draws down, the top general of Transportation Command told a Senate panel.
Despite increased support from European, Central Asian and Baltic countries to open the Northern Distribution Network to Afghanistan, the US and allied forces need Pakistan Ground Line of Communication, or GLOC, as the drawdown in Afghanistan ramps up, Gen. William Fraser said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
“With the amount of equipment we need to move ... we need the Pakistan GLOC open,” Fraser said.
“Because of the large numbers that we are talking about that we need to bring out in a timely manner.”
TRANSCOM moved an average of 40 percent of cargo through a network of truck, water, rail and air routes — approximately 27,000 containers in 2011, he said. While this was an increase of 15 percent from 2010, the US moved more than 35,000 containers through Pakistan by ground transportation before the border was closed in November. The governments that agreed to the Northern Distribution Network have given permission to move armored vehicles and other eligible commodities, but not weapons, Fraser said.
In the meantime, he said, the NDN is adequate and airlift crews are identifying and moving excess equipment from Afghanistan now. “As every aircraft goes in, if it has pallet positions, if it has capacity on it, then we are making sure we put something on that aircraft and bring it back out,” Fraser said.
TRANSCOM is also working with commercial agencies to get around the closed border. In November, 39 ships with hundreds of containers headed for Afghanistan were diverted to Dubai & Aqaba, Jordan, where they were stored and airlifted into Afghanistan, he said in his testimony.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.