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Washington: The US military is developing a plan to send about 100 trainers to work with a Pakistani paramilitary force that is the vanguard in the fight against Al Qaida and other groups in Pakistan's restive tribal areas, American defence officials said.
Pakistan has ruled out allowing US combat troops to fight Al Qaida and Taliban militants in the tribal areas. But Pakistani leaders have indicated they would welcome additional American trainers to help teach new skills to Pakistani soldiers. Their army was originally tailored not for counterinsurgency but to fight a conventional land war against India.
Even though the training programme would unfold over several months, it is being disclosed at a time of heightened operations in the unruly tribal areas along the Afghan border. At least eight people suspected of being militants were killed on Thursday in a triple missile attack on a house used for training in the tribal areas.
For several years, small teams of US Special Operations forces have trained their Pakistani counterparts in counterinsurgency tactics. But the plan to help train the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force of about 85,000 members recruited from ethnic groups on the border, is now under review at the US Central Command. It would significantly increase the size and scope of the American training role in the country.
US trainers initially would be restricted to training compounds, but with Pakistani consent could eventually accompany Pakistani troops on missions "to the point of contact" with militants, as American trainers now do with Iraqi troops in Iraq, a senior US defence official said. Britain is also considering a similar training mission in Pakistan, officials said. A spokesman at the British Embassy here declined to comment.
"The US is bringing in a small number of trainers to assist Pakistan in their efforts to improve training of the Frontier Corps," Elizabeth Colton, a spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Islamabad said.
"The US trainers will be primarily focused on assisting the Pakistan cadre who will do the actual training of the Frontier Corps troops."
The Pentagon has spent about $25 million so far to equip the Frontier Corps with new body armour, vehicles, radios and surveillance equipment, and plans to spend another $75 million next year. Over all, a senior Bush administration official said the US could spend more than $400 million over the next several years to enhance the Frontier Corps, including building a training base.
US trainers initially would be restricted to training compounds, but could eventually accompany Pakistani troops on missions "to the point of contact" with militants, as American trainers now do with Iraqi troops in Iraq.
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