Official: CIA-trained force targeting militants in Pakistan

[S_O_C_O_M]

Official: CIA-trained force targeting militants in Pakistan​

By the CNN Wire Staff

September 22, 2010 -- Updated 1651 GMT (0051 HKT)

According to the official the paramilitary force is targeting Taliban fighters such as these, pictured earlier this year.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- The paramilitary force is made up of 3,000 Afghans
- Counter terrorism Pursuit Teams revealed Bob Woodward's new book
- Pakistan denies the presence of foreign forces

Washington (CNN) -- The CIA created and controls a paramilitary force of 3,000 Afghans that conducts clandestine missions targeting al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in Pakistan, a U.S. official told CNN on Wednesday.

The official described the force as "well-trained" and "effective."

"You're talking about one of the finest Afghan fighting forces, which has made major contributions to security and stability," the official said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the topic.

The Counter terrorism Pursuit Teams were first revealed in a new book by Bob Woodward, associate editor at the Washington Post. "Obama's Wars," which lays out deep divisions in the Obama administration over Afghanistan strategy, will be released Monday.

According to that book, by the end of a 2009 strategy review, Obama concluded that the task in Afghanistan could not succeed without wiping out al Qaeda and Afghan Taliban havens operating with impunity in the border tribal areas of Pakistan, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

"We need to make clear to people that the cancer is in Pakistan," Obama is quoted as saying in Woodward's book, the Post said.

A CIA spokesman would not comment on the paramilitary force.

But Pakistani officials refuted the claims that CIA-controlled forces are operating within Pakistan.

"Pakistan will never allow boots on its soil," Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said, referring to foreign troops. "This is one of our red lines."

A senior Pakistani military official added that there are 954 checkpoints along the border that are manned by Pakistani security forces. He said it would be "next to impossible for a group of people to enter Pakistan to chase al Qaeda and Taliban militants."

The official did not want to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

Al Qaeda in Pakistan remains a lethal enemy for the United States, a counter terrorism official said this week.

But with the help of allies, the United States has been able to score "lots of successes" against the group, said the official, who also requested anonymity.

That includes the success of U.S. unmanned predator strikes in Pakistani regions along the border with Afghanistan. Since the Obama administration took office at the beginning of 2009, missile attacks on suspected terrorists in Pakistan have increased dramatically.

The United States has "cut into their ability to plot, plan and train, but they remain very dangerous, and they are still the hub to all spokes, the heart of al Qaeda," the U.S. official said.

"No one's even close to saying it's over in Pakistan. Not at all. In fact, we not only have to keep up the pressure there, we have to spread it to al Qaeda's nodes and affiliates elsewhere."

CNN's Pam Benson, Reza Sayah and Samson Desta contributed to this report.

Official: CIA-trained force targeting militants in Pakistan - CNN.com

 

[Patriot]

Afghan fighting forces

Is this supposed to be a joke?

 

[Spring Onion]

There was a news in some US paper today that CIA has US 3,000 force in Afghanistan which conduct covert operations.

There as NO mention of Afghans being part of this force rather they were saying that its US

 

[humanfirst]

Good for pakistan.It will suppliment combined effort of US-PAK ARMY in rooting out terrorists.

 

[SparklingCrescent]

Is this supposed to be a joke?
YouTube - Afghan Army Special Forces Training!

No man, this is no Joke. quiet laughing. when will we get serious with U.S?

US runs Afghan force to hunt militants in Pakistan: official

WASHINGTON: The Central Intelligence Agency runs an Afghan paramilitary force that hunts down Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in covert operations in Pakistan, a US official said Wednesday.

Confirming an account in a new book by famed reporter Bob Woodward, the US official told AFP that the Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams were highly effective but did not offer details.

“This is one of the best Afghan fighting forces and it's made major contributions to stability and security,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The 3,000-strong paramilitary army of Afghan soldiers was created and bankrolled by the CIA and was designed as an “elite” unit to pursue “highly sensitive covert operations into Pakistan” in the fight against Al-Qaeda and Taliban sanctuaries, according to The Washington Post, which revealed details of the new book.

US President Barack Obama has sought to pile pressure on militant havens in Pakistan through a stepped up bombing campaign using unmanned aircraft as well as US special forces' operations in Afghan territory.

The administration also has pressed the Pakistani army to go after the Taliban and associated groups in the northwest tribal belt.

Revelations about a US-run unit operating in Pakistan are sure to complicate Washington's ties with Islamabad as well as Kabul's difficult relations with Pakistan.

The US military's presence in Afghanistan and its secretive drone strikes across the border are the subject of sharp public criticism and suspicion in Pakistan.

Based on interviews with top decision makers, including Obama himself, Woodward's book describes the US president as struggling to find a way to extricate US troops from the Afghan war amid acrimonious debate among advisers and resistance from the military. -AFP

 

[Bill Longley]

i think its all bull ****. When US cannot control Nouristan, Kunar ,helmand and Kandahar etc and militant leaders are rooming there freely to rest and then attack in pakistan. what a stupid act it would be to use "AFGHAN SPECIAL FORCES" in FATA Where except in NWA pakistani forces are in control in stead of useing them to regain lost provinces of afghanistan.

its a propoganda leak to benifit the Obama administeration.

What ever the report suggest is like a hollywood movie
but on ground when US has failed in Afghanistan. it will be plainly stupid to use these "well Trained Afghans in FATA instead of in AFGHANISTAN"

on other hand if its true then many Questions rise in minds and many consipericy theories get proofs.