WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is planning to set up new training centers inside Pak istan where American special-operations trainers would work with Pakistani forces close to the Afghan border battle zone, a senior defense official said.
The new centers would supplement two already operating in Pakistan, and they would be used to accelerate and expand the training of Pakistani forces considered key to rooting out al-Qaeda leaders hiding along the mountainous border, the official said.
The plan would put U.S. forces closer to al-Qaeda and Taliban insurgents, a carefully calibrated expansion of the military role inside Pakistan, where the terrorists are believed planning the next attacks against the United States.
Staffing the new centers will require an increase in the more than 100 U.S. special-operations forces in Pakistan, but Pentagon officials do not yet know how much of a boost will be needed, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
U.S. officials see their effort to train Pakistan’s forces, which includes the country’s paramilitary Frontier Corps, its Special Service Group commandos and its army, as a growing success.
Welcomed by Islamabad, the training has helped repair America’s fragile relationship with the Pakistanis, while also giving elite U.S. special-operations forces better access to the border region dominated by al-Qaeda and its allies.
At the same time, the small but growing numbers of American troops inside Pakistan have also become targets. Last week, three U.S. special-operations soldiers participating in that low-profile program were killed and two others wounded by a roadside bomb.
Military aid to Pakistan, which could grow to $1.2 billion under the Obama administration’s 2011 budget plan, is considered key to winning the Afghan war and the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The planned expansion comes as the Pentagon also prepares to approve millions of dollars in new aid to its coalition partners battling in Afghanistan.
