US beefs up Pakistan force
South Asia correspondent | December 28, 2007
US Special Forces are to increase their presence in Pakistan amid assessments that the country is to become the central battlefield for al-Qa'ida as it is driven from Iraq.
"Pakistan should be carefully watched because it could prove to be a significant flashpoint in the coming year," US think tank Strategic Forecasting said in an evaluation of al-Qa'ida's tactics as the Islamist group comes under mounting pressure in Iraq.
With the "rapid spread of Talibanisation" in Pakistan's insurgent northwest, the country would become "especially important if the trend in Iraq continues to go against the jihadis and they are driven from Iraq", the assessment says.
"As the global headquarters for the al-Qa'ida leadership, Pakistan has long been a significant stronghold on the ideological battlefield. If the trend towards radicalisation continues, the country could become the new centre of gravity for the jihadi movement on the physical battlefield."
The Stratfor assessment coincided with reports from Washington suggesting US Special Forces would expand their presence in Pakistan in the new year.
The boost in US forces was part of an effort to train and support Pakistan's army in its fight to stem the al-Qa'ida and Taliban-linked insurgency.
The Washington reports reflected Pentagon frustration with the Pakistani counter-insurgency effort, and said the head of the US Special Operations Command, Admiral Eric T. Olson, had made a series of visits to the country for discussions with senior military leaders.
"The first US (Special Forces) personnel could be on the ground in Pakistan early in the new year", according to the reports.
US Central Command chief Admiral William Fallon said the US forces would provide training and mentoring based on the US experience with the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan.
No immediate independent confirmation of the deployment was available in Islamabad yesterday. But the US reports coincided with the disclosure of an ambitious 15-year "anti-terror investment plan" for Pakistan that has been high on the agenda of US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte in recent visits to Islamabad.
According to reports in Pakistan, areas in the North West Frontier Province, the federally administered tribal areas, Baluchistan and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir were earmarked for investment that would boost education and employment in an effort to wean local tribesmen away from their support for the jihadi movement.
The area, seen as crucial in the battle against al-Qa'ida and the Taliban, was the subject of a summit meeting in Islamabad yesterday involving President Pervez Musharraf and his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai.
The two leaders held what sources described as "unusually cordial and friendly" meetings on how to boost co-operation in the war against the jihadis. They agreed to intensify their exchanges of intelligence, something Mr Musharraf described as "the key to fighting and enhancing our capability against terrorists and extremists".
Mr Karzai said: "Afghanistan and Pakistan are twins. More than that, they are joined at thebody."
