ISLAMABAD, 26 January 2008 — Washington has expressed its willingness to train tribal forces in Pakistan to combat a rejuvenated Taleban in the country’s northwest bordering Afghanistan.
Chief of the US Central Command Adm. William Fallon made that suggestion during his talks with Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani on Tuesday, according to a diplomatic source who did not want to be identified.
“The US worry is not Pakistan’s nuclear assets but about the tribal region which so far has been an easy transit point for the Taleban who operate in Afghanistan,” the source added.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said at a Pentagon news conference on Thursday that Fallon suggested stationing a small number of US combat troops in Pakistan to help fight the insurgency there if Pakistani authorities asked for such help. “First of all, we remain ready, willing and able to assist the Pakistanis and to partner with them to provide additional training, to conduct joint operations, should they desire to do so,” he said.
Asked whether joint operations meant US combat troops fighting with Pakistani troops against Al-Qaeda in the tribal areas near the border with Afghanistan, Gates said, “If the Pakistanis wanted to do that, I think we would.”
Gates’ comments were the most direct yet by Washington about US willingness to send US combat troops to Pakistan as part of an intensified counterinsurgency effort in the tribal areas, which Al-Qaeda and the Taleban have turned into safe havens for attacks in Afghanistan and more recently inside Pakistan.
Use of US troops in Pakistan is a highly sensitive issue with the Pakistani military, however. President Pervez Musharraf warned earlier this month that unilateral US action in its territory would be treated as an invasion. “They clearly have the right to decide whether or not forces from another country are going to operate on their soil,” Gates said. “We will continue the dialogue. But we would not do anything without their approval.”
Gates said most of the discussion with the Pakistanis so far has involved increased counterinsurgency training rather than joint combat operations. “I mean, you’re not talking about significant numbers of US troops for the kinds of things, if you’re talking about going after Al-Qaeda in the border area or something like that,” he said. “So, in my way of thinking, we’re talking about a very small number of troops, should that happen. And it’s clearly a pretty remote area. But, again, the Pakistani government has to be the judge of this,” he said.
Gates said the threat that Al-Qaeda poses to the Pakistani state was brought home to the Pakistani military relatively recently, in particular by the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
“So I think it’s not particularly surprising that they have not fully thought through exactly how they intend to proceed and their strategy going forward,” he said. “I expect that that will happen.”
Before leaving for Islamabad, Fallon said the Pakistani military appeared willing to work more closely with the US military on improving its counterinsurgency capabilities. He said Kayani understood the threat emanating from the Taleban and Al-Qaeda safe havens in the tribal areas. “I was very heartened by his understanding of what those problems are and what he needs to do to meet them. So we’re going to try to help that,” he said in an interview last week with wire service reporters.
— Additional input from agencies
