Taliban threaten Pakistani lawmakers who support resumption of NATO supplies to Afghanistan

25.03.2012

The Taliban on Sunday threatened to attack Pakistani lawmakers and their families if they support allowing NATO to resume shipping supplies through the country to troops in neighboring Afghanistan.

Pakistan closed its Afghan border crossings to NATO in November in retaliation for American airstrikes that accidentally killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Pakistan’s parliament is scheduled to begin debate Monday on a revised relationship with the U.S. that could lead to the border being reopened.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan accused Pakistani officials of acting like slaves for the U.S. and said allowing NATO supplies to resume would be “shameful and unacceptable.”

“These parliamentarians must know that in such case, none of them will be safe in their homes,” Ahsan told The Associated Press. “We will start attacking all the parliamentarians and their families.”

Ahsan also said militants would “publicly slaughter” drivers ferrying NATO supplies.

The U.S. is eager to get the supplies moving again because it has had to spend much more money shipping goods by an alternative route that runs through Central Asia.

The supply line through Pakistan will also be key to trucking out equipment as the U.S. seeks to withdraw most of its combat forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.