ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — A crucial land route for military supplies for Western troops in Afghanistan was reopened Friday by Pakistani authorities, three days after being closed because of fighting between the Pakistani army and Islamic militants.
But the reopening of the historic Khyber Pass was unlikely to mark an end to bold attacks by militants that have plagued the route, making shipments of NATO materiel increasingly untenable for the last two months.
About three-quarters of the supplies bound for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan pass through Pakistan. With the expected deployment of as many as 30,000 additional American troops to Afghanistan in coming months, the security of the supply route is likely to become an even more pressing issue.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials have acknowledged that they are trying to arrange alternate routes through Central Asia, but insist that the loss of supplies through militant attacks on private transport convoys in Pakistan has not had a significant effect on operations in Afghanistan.
However, the sight of burned-out flatbed trucks and militants triumphantly raising the Taliban banner over captured Humvees has become emblematic of the fast-deteriorating situation in and near Peshawar, the principal city in Pakistan's troubled northwest. Taliban fighters have gained a solid foothold on the city's outskirts, where girls schools have been burned, music and video shops blown up and women ordered to veil themselves or face death.
Previous efforts by Pakistani troops to subdue militants in the tribal area known as the Khyber agency have proved short-lived. During a similar offensive in the Khyber agency in June, militants simply decamped before the troops arrived, and filtered back once the soldiers pulled back.
Pakistani officials said artillery and helicopter gunships blasted militant hide-outs during this week's operation, which began Tuesday. But some residents said there was little sign of any direct confrontation between the insurgents and army troops.
Although the militants have repeatedly struck Pakistani cities with suicide attacks, there is little public support for army operations such as the Khyber offensive. Reflecting the weak civilian government's awareness of the mission's unpopularity, the Pakistani army did not issue announcements about troop activities, leaving that to local officials.
