NATO officials said non-lethal cargo has been sent through the new route and that it has already crossed into Kazakhstan. Most American military ground cargo, up to ninety percent, according to some estimates, is food, fuel, water and construction materials. It is at present transported from Karachi port to Pak-Afghan border through the troubled Peshawar.
Generally these supplies enter Afghanistan through Torkham gate at the Khyber Pass and Chaman gate farther south. Taliban are targeting the supply trucks which are driven by drivers engaged on contract basis. 130 drivers have been killed in recent months forcing a look out for alternate routes through North Afghanistan and Russia. Even inside southern Afghanistan, the situation is no better. Quite often the US military airlifts the supplies from the border entry posts.
President Obama has cleared the plans for induction of 17000 additional American forces into Afghanistan. Already there about 38000 American troops in that country. Such a deployment will need a huge supply chain, at least 50 per cent more ground cargo. That level of supplies means more than 100 containers a day.
The Washington Post reports that the military wants to open a significant new ground supply distribution route into Afghanistan through the north, primarily through rail lines in Termez, Uzbekistan, which connect with tracks that extend about 10 miles across the border into Afghanistan. Tajikistan and Turkmenistan also agreed last month to allow non-lethal U.S. military cargo to travel on their roads and rail lines.
If these plans fall in place it will be possible to handle 20 per cent of ground cargo through the northern route via the Russian rail system. It will work out to about 100 20-foot containers a week, compared with about 500 a week through Pakistan.
At present, besides the troops, ammunition, weapons and vehicles with sensitive communication gear and all other lethal and sensitive supplies are airlifted into Afghanistan. Mine-resistant armoured vehicles are also flown in to avoid attacks.