Fuel Tanker Trucks Burn Outside Afghan Capital.
Source: ABC News
Attackers set fire to hundreds of fuel tanker trucks in a parking lot on the outskirts of the Afghan capital, witnesses said Saturday, prompting angry drivers to block a major highway to demand reimbursement for their losses. Hundreds of other drivers stood by helplessly on Saturday morning, unable to salvage any property as flames and smoke rose from the area and several fire engines rushed to the site.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the militants were targeting fuel tankers belonging to NATO forces.
"We couldn't tell if the attackers were Taliban or other people," one of the drivers, 35-year-old Juma Gul said. "They were dressed in uniforms we couldn't understand what was happening. They were shooting toward the drivers and they were setting the tankers on fire. The gunmen were targeting any of the drivers who wanted to return to their trucks."
Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanikzai said about 400 trucks caught fire late Friday and continued to burn through Saturday morning, but he did not confirm the cause or provide other details. The Interior Ministry said it has set up a team to investigate the incident. Truck drivers later blocked the main highway between Kabul and the southern city of Kandahar to protest what they said was a slow response by the government and to demand reimbursement for their losses.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/400-fuel-tankers-burn-kabul-24435571
Four hundred trucks loaded with very expensive gas and diesel fuel go up in smoke, and millions more of our scarce tax dollars are floating off into the skies of Central Asia. I'm quite sure Halliburton (or whomever) will be quick to send us the bill.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)another_liberal
(8,821 posts)And even more true when one is conducting a major, mechanized campaign at the end of a long and tenuous supply line. I wonder what we are actually paying to supply NATO forces in Kabul with a gallon of diesel fuel today?
bemildred
(90,061 posts)Shit, I posted an OP by Gen. Giap predicting this outcome. Maybe we can repeat Dien Bien Phu before this is done too.
jakeXT
(10,575 posts)http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/18/us-afghanistan-nato-trucks-idUSBRE86H0DS20120718
KG
(28,749 posts)another_liberal
(8,821 posts)The calming excuses of our all-knowing masters, or the evidence seen by our own lying eyes?
seabeckind
(1,957 posts)was totally privatized. Halliburton? KBR?
There was a news "expose" a while back that showed how our upstanding American patriotic corporations were making deals with the Taliban(?) to supply NATO with fuel.
It seems the independent truckers were targetted by the Taliban cause they weren't kicking back enough. In effect our tax dollars were supporting both sides in the conflict.
War is a business.
another_liberal
(8,821 posts)It would appear to be "the business" of our United States.
kemah
(276 posts)It has happened before, where were the guards on such a tempting target?
another_liberal
(8,821 posts)One would have expected the Afghan forces to be all over a truck park packed with hundreds of highly volatile fuel carriers. As you noted, it isn't like this same kind of thing hasn't happened before.
truth2power
(8,219 posts)that going after the enemy's logistics is an effective tactic. I'm surprised no one has thought of it until now.
another_liberal
(8,821 posts)Does tend to leave civilian "bean-counters" in charge of all that "logistics" bother. That way our generals can get on with more important matters, such as blowing stuff up with high tech drones and running "black opps" no Congressional committee will ever even hear about.