Transporting material for sustaining the so-called war on terror in Afghanistan has for many years been a hugely profitable business for the long-distance hauliers of Pakistan. It is Pakistani transporters, the vehicle-owners, drivers, loaders and ancillary staff, that have benefited from the American usage of the Karachi-Khyber Pass route to supply the 67,000 foreign troops, including about 32,000 Americans, stationed in Afghanistan. Almost 75 percent of all NATO supplies including petrol, food, military equipment and possibly ammunition are moved overland through Pakistan. It may not be for much longer. It would have made economic as well as strategic sense to protect our goods vehicles in transit of the tribal areas. The distance is not great, there is only one road and it should have been within our capacity to secure it. But we did not, or could not and that will be to the great disadvantage of the Pakistani haulage industry. The other big loser is the Karachi Port Trust that will end up paying the price for our poor planning and yet another failure of foresight. -MUHAMMAD ARSHAD NADEEM, Islamabad, via e-mail, November 23.