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February 28th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
The Defence Secretary hopes a “reverse transiting agreement” will
result in Kazakhstan also providing permission for military equipment such
as tanks and armoured personnel carriers to be carried by train on a
4,000-mile journey from northern Afghanistan to the Baltic, where they will
then be shipped back to Britain.
On Tuesday he will be having talks in neighbouring Uzbekistan in the hope of
agreeing similar transit rights. In addition Nick Harvey, the Armed Forces
Minister, is travelling this week to Kyrgystan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan
to explore the possibility of negotiating similar deals.
The Ministry of Defence estimates that Britain has a total of 3,000 armoured
vehicles and 11,000 containers of equipment worth an estimated £4 billion
based in Afghanistan that needs to be shipped home as the British Government
signals the end of its military involvement in the long-running Afghan
conflict.
These include Warrior armoured personnel carriers, as well as the new
generation of protected vehicles such as Foxhound and Coyote, which have
been acquired to replace the flawed Snatch Land Rover.
While it is possible some of the equipment may still be shipped through
Pakistan, the MOD wants to set up a network of alternative routes to ensure
the equipment returns safely to Britain and is not hijacked by Taliban
militants.
“This is an enormous logistical challenge,” Mr Hammond told the
Daily Telegraph following talks at Kazakhstan’s defence ministry in Astana
yesterday. “The pressure on existing lines of communication is going to
be very significant, which is why it is so important for us to open a new
line of communication through the north.”
Mr Hammond also denied recent reports that the MOD was planning to abandon
billions of pounds worth of military equipment in Afghanistan because it was
too expensive to bring it home.
“There has to be a cost-benefit analysis on every bit of kit, but the
majority of armoured vehicles will be brought back,” he said.
The cost of shipping the equipment home is estimated at more than £100
million. By shipping the equipment through Central Asia rather than Pakistan
Mr Hammond believes it stands less chance of being attacked by Taliban
militants, as often happens on the border crossing between Pakistan and
Afghanistan.
“The Taliban have made clear that their guidance to Taliban fighters is
not to attack Nato convoys passing through the north,” he said.
Military officials expect the operation to begin shipping the equipment back
to Britain will commence in the summer and take two years. “We want to
have a steady flow of equipment coming back to Britain rather than bring it
all back in one mad rush,” said a senior officer.
The need to find new supply routes has intensified following the Obama
administration’s decision to end combat operations from next year. The U.S.
has an estimated 49,000 armoured vehicles and 100,000 shipping containers
worth an estimated $49 billion that needs to be shipped back to the U.S.
Hillary Clinton, the U.S. Secretary of State, has made two recent visits to
Kazakhstan to negotiate separate transit agreements for Washington.
The urgency with which Britain and its allies are searching for alternative
exit routes from Afghanistan will inevitably raise concerns that Nato is
ending its military mission before the campaign against the Taliban has been
completed, thereby allowing the Taliban to return to power once Nato has
left.
But Mr Hammond rejected claims Nato was undertaking an undignified retreat
from Afghanistan. “Nato is in this for the long haul, even after we
finish combat operations,” he said. “We are going to pass control
to an enlarged and better trained Afghan force.”
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