Real cost of gas at Afghan bases

cbs news ^ | 6 December 2011

[MadJack]

Keeping American vehicles rolling in Afghanistan while avoiding the perils of hauling in fuel via ground transportation is costing the military big time.

Frosty relations between the U.S. and Pakistan - which led to Pakistan closing its border to Afghanistan-bound truck traffic- haven't helped, either.

The Pentagon is increasingly relying on parachute drops of fuel and other supplies to bases in remote parts of Afghanistan, and as Nathan Hodge of the Wall Street Journal reports, the military estimates such deliveries are spiking the ultimate price of a gallon of fuel to as much as $400 per gallon.

[MadJack]

This is insane. We were buying diesel locally in Khost City a few months ago for $1.00 per liter. If the Army can't get fuel from there a few miles north to Sabari we need to get the hell out of Khost province.

[TwoSwords]

That’s the plan. The dem’s know they’re going to get slaughtered in 2012, in every way. Make the hand-off as difficult as possible. Hand us as big a recovery job as possible. Not exterminating these tools is stupid. They’d do it to us in a heartbeat. And have done so multiple times in the past. We owe them in spades.

[SunkenCiv]

[JerseyanExile]

Well, we're kind of stuck up the ephemeral creek without a paddle. The only nations that border Afghanistan are Iran, Pakistan, China, and the central-asian 'stans. Why we can't use Iran and China to move in equipment goes without saying . We have alright relations with several of the central-asian nations, and we are able to move equipment and people through there, but for anything to reach these nations means that it must ultimately come from Russia or China. We are utterly dependent on Russia right now to supply our troops in Afghanistan. The only other option would be to move supplies across the Caspian sea, then through Turkmenistan. But to even reach the Caspian, equipment would have to go through either Turkey and Armenia, or Georgia to Azerbaijan. And in the end, Russia could easily pressure Turkmenistan, Georgia, and Azerbaijan to halt any transit rights. Pictured above: how screwed we are without supply lines through Pakistan.

[dervish]

Afghanistan is a losing proposition. We can’t civilize these barbarians. It was time to leave when the ROE became dangerous and compromised our soldiers.