By Imtiaz Ali
The recent spate of attacks on NATO’s supply convoys in Pakistan’s northern city of Peshawar and the adjacent Khyber Tribal Agency has not only tested Pakistan’s much-touted performance in the global war on terror, but has also compelled U.S-led forces in Afghanistan to dispense with what some Western officials call the “dependency syndrome” of using only Pakistan as a major supply route for NATO and ISAF forces in Afghanistan. Previously, most of the supply convoys came under attack somewhere in the remote parts of the Khyber agency of the tribal belt - the lawless region that straddles Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is disturbing, however, that the latest spike of attacks happened at depots and terminals in the city of Peshawar, the capital of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), where militants razed to ashes hundred of trucks and containers in recent weeks. All these vehicles and containers loaded with goods were destined for NATO forces based in Afghanistan.
