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| U.S. Troops to be sent to Pakistan early next year |
| 2007-12-27 |
| This story was posted to the Washington Post on the 26th. It bears watching to see if the troop deployment will still going forward since Bhutto's assasination. Beginning early next year, U.S. Special Forces are expected to vastly expand their presence in Pakistan, as part of an effort to train and support indigenous counter-insurgency forces and clandestine counterterrorism units, according to defense officials involved with the planning. These Pakistan-centric operations will mark a shift for the U.S. military and for U.S. Pakistan relations. In the aftermath of Sept. 11, the U.S. used Pakistani bases to stage movements into Afghanistan. Yet once the U.S. deposed the Taliban government and established its main operating base at Bagram, north of Kabul, U.S. forces left Pakistan almost entirely. Since then, Pakistan has restricted U.S. involvement in cross-border military operations as well as paramilitary operations on its soil. But the Pentagon has been frustrated by the inability of Pakistani national forces to control the borders or the frontier area. And Pakistan's political instability has heightened U.S. concern about Islamic extremists there. According to Pentagon sources, reaching a different agreement with Pakistan became a priority for the new head of the U.S. Special Operations Command, Adm. Eric T. Olson. Olson visited Pakistan in August, November and again this month, meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman Gen. Tariq Majid and Lt. Gen. Muhammad Masood Aslam, commander of the military and paramilitary troops in northwest Pakistan. Olson also visited the headquarters of the Frontier Corps, a separate paramilitary force recruited from Pakistan's border tribes. Now, a new agreement, reported when it was still being negotiated last month, has been finalized. And the first U.S. personnel could be on the ground in Pakistan by early in the new year, according to Pentagon sources. U.S. Central Command Commander Adm. William Fallon alluded to the agreement and spoke approvingly of Pakistan's recent counterterrorism efforts in an interview with Voice of America last week. "What we've seen in the last several months is more of a willingness to use their regular army units," along the Afghan border, Fallon said. "And this is where, I think, we can help a lot from the U.S. in providing the kind of training and assistance and mentoring based on our experience with insurgencies recently and with the terrorist problem in Iraq and Afghanistan, I think we share a lot with them, and we'll look forward to doing that." If Pakistan actually follows through, perhaps 2008 will be a better year. |
| Posted by:Delphi |
| #5 Like the comments at the Wapo blog. A lotta loons read the Post. On both sides of the ball... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-12-27 14:15 |
| #4 I think we will need to seize the port and the causeway into Afghanistan. I have a feeling Pakland is going all to hell. Secure the nukes, quick. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-12-27 14:14 |
| #3 US SF should be seeking friends and relatives of Bhutto who now want revenge. We need some locals to blend in. |
| Posted by: Woozle Uneath8763 2007-12-27 14:06 |
| #2 Aren't we at about the time for the Punjab and Sindh to reunite with the Raj, and the Pashtun and Balochs to wander off into greater Afghanistan or new PashBalistan? Conglomeration didn't seem to work, so maybe atomization is due it's chance. |
| Posted by: Glung McGurque2454 2007-12-27 13:47 |
| #1 Loudly announce the deployment has been cancelled, and send 'em in in 2s and 3s, all plainclothes... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2007-12-27 13:22 |