India hopes to boost its trade with Afghanistan via this route

military and NATO have not given details of the supplies they get via Pakistan or a breakdown of how much comes on the two routes.The U.S Defense Department says the U.S. military sends 75 percent of supplies for the Afghan war through or over Pakistan, including 40 percent of the fuel for its troops.Pakistani customs officials say under normal circumstances, about 300 trucks with Western force supplies travel through the Khyber Pass crossing at Torkham every day, compared with about 100 through the Chaman crossing.Petraeus did not give details of agreements on new routes but they would likely only be for U.S supplies. The responsibility for equipping forces within NATO's Afghan force lies with each country. Some imported supplies for the fledgling Afghan armed forces, which the United States and its allies are building up, also come through the Pakistani routes.THE TROUBLEKhyber is one of seven so-called agencies in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The area is awash with weapons and inhabited by ethnic Pashtun tribes. Few of Pakistan's federal laws apply and outside interference is resented.

Under a system inherited from colonial Britain, a government "political agent" administers through tribal elders who are meant to maintain peace and keep open the road from the city of Peshawar through the pass to the border Pakistani Taliban stepped up attacks on trucks last year. This month, Pashtun tribesmen blocked the route on the Pakistan side for several days in a protest against security force searches for militants.THE ALTERNATIVESApart from Pakistan, Afghanistan has a border with Iran to the west, Turkmenistan to the northwest, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to the north, and a sliver of remote mountainous territory with China in the far northeast.Afghan-bound supplies coming by ship would have to dock at ports in the Mediterranean (Turkey), the Black Sea (Russia or Georgia), or at other Russian ports.From Russia, goods would most likely have to cross Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and into northern Afghanistan.Another possibility for goods off-loaded in Georgia or Turkey could be through Azerbaijan, then across the Caspian Sea to Turkmenistan and then into northwest Afghanistan.Iran could provide a convenient link from its port of Chabahar to western Afghanistan. India hopes to boost its trade with Afghanistan via this route. ) Here we are 10 games into the NHL season and already people have begun irrational debating over what is considered a clean hit in hockey. The Mike Richards hit on David Booth has been the most hotly contested debate over the past few days; evidently the NHL viewing public is split on the topic. Last Saturday night, David Booth, of the Florida Panthers, cut across the Flyers blue line late in the second period, then dropped a fine pass to Stephen Weiss. Booth followed the pass with his eyes and Richards met him with a shoulder square in the head. I’ve watched the video of this hit multiple times now and I’m still trying to see where Richards went wrong.

Now, I’m wondering if the people who are in fact opposed to the hit are actual hockey fans, or just the general public who are against any form of violent acts Hockey has forever been a rough and very often violent game; colossal hits and fighting are nothing new to the NHL, that’s why I ask who these panicky, broken up people are Now, having said that, I’m not a bloodthirsty fan that takes pleasure in seeing players getting injured on the ice, but hockey is the fastest and most intense game there is. Unfortunately players will get injured, Booth was not the first this season and he most certainly will not be the last player we see laying on the ice. Nonetheless, I do feel that we can reduce injuries, and that the league should be continuously working towards protecting the players. Stevens was consistently praised for hits like this, not to mention being given a place in the hall of fame. Colin Campbell was quoted saying “there is a responsibility by the player getting hit by a legal check that he has to have his head up and avoid it." Mike Richards kept his elbow tight to his body, he didn’t leave his feet, and he made the hit within an appropriate time of puck possession. I feel sympathetic towards Booth getting so badly injured, but not bad enough to start talking rule changes when it involves hitting. The people who believe that it was a dirty hit also must believe they are more qualified to do Colin Campbell's job. I know one thing that will definitely be coming from this controversy, and that’s David Booth never cutting through the opposing blue line with his head down again. .