Dion Nissenbaum of McClatchy reports that although the Pakistanis have blocked U.S. military convoys passing through Torkham to Afghanistan, they’re letting everyone else through, including Taliban fighters:
“Every day, 40,000 to 70,000 people pass through the border, we can’t handle it,” said Gen. Mohammed Zaman Mamozai, the commander of the Afghan Border Police stationed at Torkham gate. “For us it’s very difficult, and it’s not possible to ask every single person where they are going and if they have a passport.”
….For nearly a decade, the U.S. has spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to cut off the remote, high altitude mountain trails Taliban forces use to smuggle weapons and fighters into Afghanistan. Now, the U.S. military is turning its attention to the border crossing.
“More and more we’ve realized that they are not coming through the passes, they’re just coming through the . . . gate,” said one U.S. government official in Afghanistan who spoke on the condition of anonymity so he could candidly discuss the unfolding plan to focus on the border crossing.
Wait a second. After ten years, we’re only now realizing that the Taliban might be coming in and out of Afghanistan via the Khyber Pass? That can’t possibly be right, can it?
