Gunmen torched more than two dozen tankers carrying fuel to NATO troops and killed a driver Wednesday, the sixth attack on convoys taking supplies to Afghanistan since Pakistan closed a key border crossing almost a week ago.
Islamabad shut down the Torkham crossing along the fabled Khyber Pass last Thursday after a NATO helicopter attack in the border area killed three Pakistani troops. The closure has left hundreds of trucks stranded alongside the country's highways and bottlenecked traffic heading to the one route into Afghanistan from the south that has remained open.
In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said an investigation of the helicopter attack was expected to be concluded later Wednesday, and that he expected the spat between allies could be resolved soon.
The U.S. has supply routes through other countries into Afghanistan, and Morrell emphasized that the Torkham closing had not caused fuel problems for NATO troops.
"We don't suspect it will, even if this were to last into the future," he said Tuesday at the Pentagon. "But we really do have a sense we're making progress and this can be resolved soon."
By: Brant
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