U.S. Special Forces Teams Are Deployed With Pakistani Army Units

From The Long War Journal:


US Special Forces teams deployed with Pakistani Army

By Bill RoggioDecember 1, 2010





Over the past year, US special operations forces teams have deployed with the Pakistani Army to serve in a combat support role.



Small teams from the US Special Operations Command have deployed with Pakistani Army headquarters units in the Taliban-controlled tribal agencies of Bajaur and North and South Waziristan "to provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) support and general operational advice" for ongoing combat operations. The presence of three such teams have been detected over the past year.



The deployment of US special operations forces was disclosed in the US State Department cables leaked by WikiLeaks. The cable, which is dated Oct. 9, 2009, was written by Anne Patterson, then the US Ambassador to Pakistan.



The deployment of the first team was to the tribal agency of Bajaur, where the Pakistani military has twice declared victory against Taliban forces under the command of Faqir Mohammed. The Pakistani Army first claimed a total Taliban defeat in March 2008, and did so again in March 2009.



"The Pakistani Army has for just the second time approved deployment of U.S. special operation elements to support Pakistani military operations," Patterson wrote. "The first deployment, with SOC(FWD)-PAK [Special Operations Command Forward, Pakistan] elements embedded with the Frontier Corps in Bajaur Agency, occurred in September."



The deployment of a special operations team "provided ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] for an FC [Frontier Corps] operation. This support was highly successful, enabling the FC to execute a precise and effective artillery strike on an enemy location."



In early October, the Pakistan Army General Headquarters again requested the deployment of teams to North and South Waziristan "in order to provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) support and general operational advice" to 11 Corps. "SOC(FWD)-PAK support to 11 Corps would be at the [location redacted] and would include a live downlink of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) full motion video."



The Pakistani request for US special operations teams occurred just two weeks before the Pakistani Army launched its military offensive against the Taliban under the command of al Qaeda allies Hakeemullah and Waliur Rahman Mehsud in the Mehsud tribal areas in the eastern region of South Waziristan. The Pakistani Army did not advance on al Qaeda and Taliban havens in the Wazir areas in South Waziristan and has continued to rebuff US pressure to move into North Waziristan, which is considered the headquarters of al Qaeda's global operations.



Ambassador Patterson's cable highlights the limited role the US military has played in Pakistan.



"U.S. special operation elements have been in Pakistan for more than a year, but were largely limited to a training role," she wrote. "The Pakistani Army leadership previously adamantly opposed letting us embed U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) with their military forces to support their operations."



The presence of US special operations forces in northwestern Pakistan was confirmed in February 2010 when three US soldiers were killed in a suicide attack in the settled district of Dir, just north of Bajaur. The US embassy in Islamabad insisted the three US soldiers were providing training and assistance to the Pakistan Frontier Corps.



The deployment of US military teams in support of military operations was cause for optimism, and "appears to represent a sea change in Pakistani thinking," Patterson stated. "Patient relationship-building with the military is the key factor that has brought us to this point."



But Patterson warned that disclosure of the deployment of US ground teams would jeopardize future cooperation.



"These deployments are highly politically sensitive because of widely-held concerns among the public about Pakistani sovereignty and opposition to allowing foreign military forces to operate in any fashion on Pakistani soil," Patterson said. "Should these developments and/or related matters receive any coverage in the Pakistani or US media, the Pakistani military will likely stop making requests for such assistance."













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