Nato`s Withdrawal Route In Northern Afghanistan Is Dependent On One Dilapidated Tunnel

Nato Troops Forced To Risk Dilapidated Tunnel To Get Out Of Afghanistan -- The Telegraph

A wave of anti-Nato protests in Pakistan is forcing Western forces to rely on a dilapidated Soviet-built road tunnel that cuts through the Hindu Kush as the main artery for the exit from Afghanistan, reports Rob Crilly

The route twists one way then the next, snaking higher into the Hindu Kush.

The stout trucks and tankers shift down gears as they negotiate each switchback, swinging into the middle of the road to keep from losing momentum.

That is until they stop altogether and the main northern lifeline from Kabul becomes nothing but a long, thin lorry park. The queue extends into the distance. Drivers doze in their cabs or during the summer months in the shade beneath the trailers.

Nothing will move all day as they wait for their chance to pass through the Salang Tunnel, a dangerous bottleneck in America’s exit from Afghanistan.

It is one and a half miles of ruts, potholes and dripping water that has been bombed, battered by avalanches and neglected for years.

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My Comment: When you think of the hundreds of billions that have been spent (and wasted) in Afghanistan .... you have to wonder why at least a few million were not spent on improving the roads of this critical tunnel.