I think this is pretty significant. We touched on this earlier here on Feral Jundi and the fallout of the recent events in Georgia will definitely impact war efforts elsewhere. I could see Russia making things very difficult for the logistics in Afghanistan, and it would not be that hard to do at all. They could either support the Taliban by proxy, or do what they are doing now and force supply trains to go through more dangerous places by axing current agreements.
With that said, I believe we will see this war zone evolve into what Iraq was a couple years ago. And that is IEDs and EFPs galore with constant attacks on supply trains coming into and out of Afghanistan. It is the smartest thing the enemy could do at this point, and I think we are starting to witness the beginning of this. The ISAF and NATO deaths keep going up, and the Taliban continue to increase their attacks and lethality. We’ll see how it goes and I will be praying to the gods of convoy protection for the guys that have to run those roads. –Head Jundi
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Russian official warns NATO transit to Afghanistan at risk
by Staff Writers
London (AFP) Aug 26, 2008
NATO should not be able to use Russian routes to transit supplies and equipment to Afghanistan because Russia has suspended military co-operation with the Western alliance, the country’s ambassador to Kabul argued in an interview published Tuesday.
Speaking to The Times from the Afghan capital, Zamir Kabulov said increased tensions between Russia and West over the former’s recent assault on Georgia could lead Moscow to review other such agreements.
Asked by the newspaper if Russia’s suspension of military co-operation with NATO invalidated an April agreement on the transit of supplies to Afghanistan, Kabulov said: “Of course. Why not? If there is a suspension of military cooperation, this is military cooperation.”
“No one with common sense can expect to co-operate with Russia in one part of the world while acting against it in another,” he added.
He insisted, however, that Russia was not seeking to derail NATO efforts in Afghanistan, telling The Times: “It’s not in Russia’s interests for NATO to be defeated and leave behind all these problems.”
“We’d prefer NATO to complete its job and then leave this unnatural geography.
“But at the same time, we’ll be the last ones to moan about NATO’s departure.”
NATO leads the 53,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which is tasked with spreading the influence of Kabul’s weak central government across the country.
But five years after taking charge, ISAF is struggling to defeat a tenacious Taliban-led insurgency, in part commanded from across the porous mountain border with Pakistan.