Pakistani authorities, angered by repeated incursions by NATO helicopters from Afghanistan, last week blocked a supply route for the troops in Afghanistan. The latest attack on fuel tankers took place on another route near the southwestern city of Quetta.
NATO incursions and the border closure have raised tensions between the US and Pakistan, long-time but uneasy allies.
US pressure on Islamabad to crack down on militants in its northwest tribal areas who cross the border to attack Western troops in Afghanistan is also a source of friction.
An alleged Al-Qaeda plot to attack European targets has put the Pakistani government’s performance against militants under scrutiny again, while the country reels from summer floods that left over 10 million homeless and heavily damaged the economy.
A British man killed by an air strike in Pakistan had ties with the would-be Times Square bomber, a Pakistani intelligence official, who declined to be named, told Reuters.
He said the Briton, Abdul Jabbar, had also been in the process of setting up a branch for the Taleban in Britain.
“He had some links to Faisal Shahzad but the nature of the ties are not clear,” the official said, referring to the Pakistani-born US citizen who was sentenced to life in prison in the United States on Tuesday for trying to set off a car bomb in New York’s busy Times Square.
Those links are likely to fuel concerns that Al-Qaeda and groups linked to it, such as Pakistan’s Taleban, which trained Shahzad, are becoming an increasing threat to Western nations.
Tehrik-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP) in early September vowed to launch attacks in the US and Europe “very soon.” It had previously made similar threats but Shahzad’s plot was the closest it has come to success.
Before his sentencing, Shahzad denounced the presence of US and NATO forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, described himself as the “first droplet of the flood that will follow” and mentioned Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
The TTP claimed responsibility for most of the latest attacks on which hit nearly 70 NATO supply trucks. On Wednesday, 14 gunmen opened fire on trucks and torched them, killing a driver.
The bulk of supplies for the foreign forces in Afghanistan moves through Pakistan which is itself battling a deadly homegrown Taleban insurgency.
Analysts say supply routes to Afghanistan give Pakistan leverage over the US’ war efforts in Afghanistan, although Pakistan often cites security concerns as reasons for closures.
Tensions could deepen if Washington demands more cooperation from Pakistan before a gradual US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, which has raised concerns over the country’s stability, starts in July 2011.
Islamabad is unlikely to budge. Cracking down on groups such as the Haqqani network would not make strategic sense. Pakistan regards the Afghan Taleban faction as an asset that can help it counter India’s increasing involvement in Afghanistan. Antagonising the group, one of the most effective forces fighting US troops could be highly risky.
“If you are Pakistani and you know the United States is going to leave (Afghanistan) why would you want to turn everybody into your enemy? You can’t defeat them,” said Kamran Bokhari, South Asia director for STRATFOR global intelligence firm.
European and American counter-terrorism officials have said that concerns about a group of about 100 German Islamists who had traveled between Germany and the tribal border areas of Pakistan contributed to the latest security alert in Europe.
A new White House assessment concludes that Pakistan has been unwilling to aggressively pursue Al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taleban in its tribal region of North Waziristan, part of a global hub for militants.
Pakistan has repeatedly said it is doing all it can to fight the militancy, pointing to the thousands of people it has lost in a wave of attacks over the past three years. It has, however, said it will not tolerate any incursions by foreign troops.
The US has also ramped up pilotless drone aircraft strikes against militant targets within Pakistan’s borders, further deepening concern of a more aggressive US war strategy.
