LAHORE: The United States is sending special forces teams to Balochistan as part of a push to accelerate training of the Pakistani military and enhance its counterinsurgency capabilities, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
| Looks like General Kayani didn't get the memo ... |
Senior US officials told WSJ that 25 to 50 special forces personnel were deploying to two new training camps in Balochistan. The US personnel will focus on training Pakistan's Frontier Corps, the officials told the journal. But the trainers would not be taking part in active operations with Pakistani forces.
| So they'll have plenty of free time to explore the beauties of the countryside? |
The paper said a senior US military officer hoped that Islamabad would gradually allow the US to expand its training footprint inside Pakistan's borders, while another former US official familiar with the plans said the deployments would "get more American eyes and ears" into the strategically important region.
The project, which draws on proposals first discussed under the Bush administration, is a joint effort with the United Kingdom, senior US officials were quoted by the paper. The UK plans to help fund the training, but it was unclear if British military personnel would directly assist in the training. |