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Intelligence centers, aid package planned
By Farah Stockman, Globe Staff | February 25, 2008
WASHINGTON - US officials are quietly planning to expand their presence in and around the lawless tribal areas of Pakistan by creating special coordination centers on the Afghan side of the border where US, Afghan, and Pakistani officials can share intelligence about Al Qaeda and Taliban militants, according to State Department and Pentagon officials.
The Bush administration is also seeking to expand its influence in the tribal areas through a new economic support initiative that would initially focus on school and road construction projects. Officials recently asked Congress for $453 million to launch the effort - a higher request for economic support funds than for any country except Afghanistan.
The expansion of US efforts in the tribal areas - made possible, in part, by rising Pakistani anger at a string of suicide attacks by militants from the region - also includes the deployment of about 30 US counterinsurgency trainers to teach an elite Pakistani force to fight Al Qaeda and indigenous extremists.
President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan has long refused to allow US soldiers to operate openly in the semiautonomous tribal areas where Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding. But in recent months, as unrest in Pakistan grew and he became increasingly unpopular, Musharraf began quietly allowing more American "eyes and ears" into the region, Pakistani officials said in interviews.
US officials say they hope Musharraf's concessions will evolve into a greater role for US forces in the region over time.
"In order to get a window on what's happening on the ground, US forces need to be more present, whether they are physically there, or virtually there, monitoring," said Daniel Markey, a Pakistan specialist on the State Department's policy planning staff from 2003 until his retirement last year.
To get a better picture of the complex insurgency that has grown in the tribal areas over the past five years, US officials are constructing two new coordination centers on the Afghan side of a border at Torkham, near the Khyber Pass, and at a second position north of Torkham. Four more posts are under consideration, according to a senior Defense Department official who is not authorized to be quoted in the press.
According to the plans, the official said, about 15 Afghan, Pakistani, and American officials will meet daily at each center to share intelligence about militant activities on both sides of the porous, mountainous border, which extends about 1,560 miles between Afghanistan and Pakistan's tribal areas.
"The purpose of the centers is to share intelligence, ensure that all [parties] have a common operational picture of the area, coordinate operations that might be occurring on both sides of the border at the same time, and [settle conflicts] when necessary," said the Defense Department official.
He said there is no intention at this time to use the centers to conduct joint operations in the tribal areas.
But a State Department official who has been briefed on the plans said the United States hopes the initiatives will spread to dozens of border posts and eventually evolve into a form of military cooperation.
"We'll start with intelligence sharing," said the State Department official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the press. "If we could turn that into joint operations, all the better, but we have to walk before we can fly."
The idea for the centers grew out of a commission made up of intelligence and military officers from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the United States who have held periodic meetings since 2003 in various locations in the three countries to discuss security and terrorism.
In the past those meetings, which took place every six weeks, were marked by tension and mistrust, as Afghan and US officials feared their Pakistani counterparts were giving safe haven to militants. But a rash of suicide attacks against government targets inside Pakistan last summer pushed military leaders in Islamabad to view the extremists in the tribal areas as their enemies, not just the enemies of Americans and Afghans, and put all three countries on the same side, US officials said.
In August, a special meeting between US officials, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, tribal leaders, and Musharraf paved the way for better cooperation.
The Bush administration has requested $826 million in funds for Pakistan for 2009, more than half of which would be spent on development assistance, mostly in the tribal areas. About $300 million would be spent on reimbursing Pakistan's military for the costs of its operations in the tribal areas.
Initially, the Bush administration proposed to provide the development aid on a "cash transfer" basis to the Pakistani government. But in December, it opted to funnel the money through projects, which will require USAID contractors to have greater access to the isolated area, where foreigners are usually prohibited from traveling without a Pakistani military escort.
The large request has raised eyebrows in Congress. Last week, Senator Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat who chairs a Senate subcommittee on foreign aid, raised questions in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about the effectiveness of US aid in the tribal areas and on US activities there.
The Pentagon is also planning to send roughly 30 counterinsurgency trainers to centers in the Northwest Frontier Province and in Baluchistan, where they will work with the Special Services Group, an elite commando force inside the Pakistani Army that is similar to the US Army's Special Forces, according to the Defense Department official. News of the training was first reported by the Washington Post.
Across the border, in Afghanistan, such counterinsurgency training takes place in the field, with US and Afghan soldiers walking together side-by-side, often in enemy territory. Pakistani leaders have refused to agree to such overt exercises, fearing the backlash that it would provoke among the fiercely anti-American tribal population. But US officials hope their role will evolve over time.
"You could get to a place where the US could be operating side-by-side or in some sort of advisory capacity, on the ground," said Markey. "But this is a ways off. This is politically very, very unpalatable at this stage in Pakistan."
The CIA is also pushing to enhance its surveillance capabilities and intelligence cooperation with the Pakistani services at a covert location in the tribal areas, according to a Pakistani official in the tribal areas who asked not to be identified. For years, Pakistani newspapers have published accounts of "invisible American commandos" operating inside the tribal areas, but in recent months Pakistani officials have become more open about the CIA presence there.
US forces have long operated Predator drones capable of destroying terrorist targets inside Pakistan's tribal areas, but have complained that there are too few reliable, timely tips about the location of wanted targets.
"What the US would like is closer, on-the-ground intelligence coordination, US intelligence boots on the ground and more freedom of action in the tribal territories," said Robert Grenier, a former CIA station chief in Pakistan and director of the CIA's counterterrorism center.
Still, some in the US government have argued that it would be unwise to ramp up the overt US presence in the tribal areas too quickly. So for now, US officials said, they will concentrate on enhancing their influence in the tribal region in more subtle ways.
"There is a desire to do more on the US side, and there is a recognition that it has to be handled with a great deal of sensitivity," Markey said.
By Farah Stockman, Globe Staff | February 25, 2008
WASHINGTON - US officials are quietly planning to expand their presence in and around the lawless tribal areas of Pakistan by creating special coordination centers on the Afghan side of the border where US, Afghan, and Pakistani officials can share intelligence about Al Qaeda and Taliban militants, according to State Department and Pentagon officials.
The Bush administration is also seeking to expand its influence in the tribal areas through a new economic support initiative that would initially focus on school and road construction projects. Officials recently asked Congress for $453 million to launch the effort - a higher request for economic support funds than for any country except Afghanistan.
The expansion of US efforts in the tribal areas - made possible, in part, by rising Pakistani anger at a string of suicide attacks by militants from the region - also includes the deployment of about 30 US counterinsurgency trainers to teach an elite Pakistani force to fight Al Qaeda and indigenous extremists.
President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan has long refused to allow US soldiers to operate openly in the semiautonomous tribal areas where Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding. But in recent months, as unrest in Pakistan grew and he became increasingly unpopular, Musharraf began quietly allowing more American "eyes and ears" into the region, Pakistani officials said in interviews.
US officials say they hope Musharraf's concessions will evolve into a greater role for US forces in the region over time.
"In order to get a window on what's happening on the ground, US forces need to be more present, whether they are physically there, or virtually there, monitoring," said Daniel Markey, a Pakistan specialist on the State Department's policy planning staff from 2003 until his retirement last year.
To get a better picture of the complex insurgency that has grown in the tribal areas over the past five years, US officials are constructing two new coordination centers on the Afghan side of a border at Torkham, near the Khyber Pass, and at a second position north of Torkham. Four more posts are under consideration, according to a senior Defense Department official who is not authorized to be quoted in the press.
According to the plans, the official said, about 15 Afghan, Pakistani, and American officials will meet daily at each center to share intelligence about militant activities on both sides of the porous, mountainous border, which extends about 1,560 miles between Afghanistan and Pakistan's tribal areas.
"The purpose of the centers is to share intelligence, ensure that all [parties] have a common operational picture of the area, coordinate operations that might be occurring on both sides of the border at the same time, and [settle conflicts] when necessary," said the Defense Department official.
He said there is no intention at this time to use the centers to conduct joint operations in the tribal areas.
But a State Department official who has been briefed on the plans said the United States hopes the initiatives will spread to dozens of border posts and eventually evolve into a form of military cooperation.
"We'll start with intelligence sharing," said the State Department official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the press. "If we could turn that into joint operations, all the better, but we have to walk before we can fly."
The idea for the centers grew out of a commission made up of intelligence and military officers from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the United States who have held periodic meetings since 2003 in various locations in the three countries to discuss security and terrorism.
In the past those meetings, which took place every six weeks, were marked by tension and mistrust, as Afghan and US officials feared their Pakistani counterparts were giving safe haven to militants. But a rash of suicide attacks against government targets inside Pakistan last summer pushed military leaders in Islamabad to view the extremists in the tribal areas as their enemies, not just the enemies of Americans and Afghans, and put all three countries on the same side, US officials said.
In August, a special meeting between US officials, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, tribal leaders, and Musharraf paved the way for better cooperation.
The Bush administration has requested $826 million in funds for Pakistan for 2009, more than half of which would be spent on development assistance, mostly in the tribal areas. About $300 million would be spent on reimbursing Pakistan's military for the costs of its operations in the tribal areas.
Initially, the Bush administration proposed to provide the development aid on a "cash transfer" basis to the Pakistani government. But in December, it opted to funnel the money through projects, which will require USAID contractors to have greater access to the isolated area, where foreigners are usually prohibited from traveling without a Pakistani military escort.
The large request has raised eyebrows in Congress. Last week, Senator Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat who chairs a Senate subcommittee on foreign aid, raised questions in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about the effectiveness of US aid in the tribal areas and on US activities there.
The Pentagon is also planning to send roughly 30 counterinsurgency trainers to centers in the Northwest Frontier Province and in Baluchistan, where they will work with the Special Services Group, an elite commando force inside the Pakistani Army that is similar to the US Army's Special Forces, according to the Defense Department official. News of the training was first reported by the Washington Post.
Across the border, in Afghanistan, such counterinsurgency training takes place in the field, with US and Afghan soldiers walking together side-by-side, often in enemy territory. Pakistani leaders have refused to agree to such overt exercises, fearing the backlash that it would provoke among the fiercely anti-American tribal population. But US officials hope their role will evolve over time.
"You could get to a place where the US could be operating side-by-side or in some sort of advisory capacity, on the ground," said Markey. "But this is a ways off. This is politically very, very unpalatable at this stage in Pakistan."
The CIA is also pushing to enhance its surveillance capabilities and intelligence cooperation with the Pakistani services at a covert location in the tribal areas, according to a Pakistani official in the tribal areas who asked not to be identified. For years, Pakistani newspapers have published accounts of "invisible American commandos" operating inside the tribal areas, but in recent months Pakistani officials have become more open about the CIA presence there.
US forces have long operated Predator drones capable of destroying terrorist targets inside Pakistan's tribal areas, but have complained that there are too few reliable, timely tips about the location of wanted targets.
"What the US would like is closer, on-the-ground intelligence coordination, US intelligence boots on the ground and more freedom of action in the tribal territories," said Robert Grenier, a former CIA station chief in Pakistan and director of the CIA's counterterrorism center.
Still, some in the US government have argued that it would be unwise to ramp up the overt US presence in the tribal areas too quickly. So for now, US officials said, they will concentrate on enhancing their influence in the tribal region in more subtle ways.
"There is a desire to do more on the US side, and there is a recognition that it has to be handled with a great deal of sensitivity," Markey said.
