Pakistan militants sever US, NATO supply line

Militants blew up a bridge in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, cutting a major supply line for Western troops in Afghanistan in the latest in a series of attacks on the Khyber Pass by insurgents seeking to hamper the U.S.-led mission against the Taliban. The latest Khyber Pass attack highlights the urgent need NATO and the U.S. have for alternative supply routes to landlocked Afghanistan through nations to its north, an already vital task given American plans to double its troop numbers in the country. U.S. Central Command chief Gen. David Petraeus said last month that agreements are in place to use routes that cut through Central Asia, but details have yet to be announced. Hidayat Ullah, a government official in the Khyber tribal area, said the 32-foot-long bridge was about 15 miles northwest of the main city of Peshawar. He said private cars as well as trucks carrying NATO and U.S. supplies were unable to cross it. It was not immediately clear whether supply convoys could reach Afghanistan through alternative, smaller routes in the region. Another official in the area, Fazal Mahmood, said repair work had begun on the bridge. Up to 75 percent of the fuel and supplies destined for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan travel through Pakistan after being unloaded at the port of Karachi. Most are driven along the Khyber Pass. Pakistan has dispatched paramilitary escorts for supply convoys and cracked down on militants in Khyber, but attacks have persisted in an area that up to three years ago was largely free of violence.