US Troops to Pakistan ?

By Charlie

Caught this on EarlyBird this morning:

The Pentagon is "ready, willing and able" to send U.S. troops to conduct joint combat operations with Pakistan's military against al-Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan's tribal areas, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday.

The U.S. military is also beginning to construct as many as eight coordination centers along the Afghan-Pakistani border that will be staffed by officers from the three countries to more closely share intelligence and conduct combat operations, according to Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez, the top U.S. commander for eastern Afghanistan.

Gates said al-Qaeda has allied with other extremists in the border area, possibly including Baitullah Mehsud, a tribal leader linked to the Taliban. "They clearly are much more active and working with other people," he said.

Rodriguez said Pakistani military leaders are increasingly willing to cooperate in operations on either side of the border. There is "a growing realization amongst all of them, that everybody needs to do more together," he said at a Pentagon briefing this week.

This is being framed correctly by both sides, rather than initiate hostile military action, partner with Pakistan and help them remove a threat to Afghanistan , Pakistan , and America . The Taliban elements and AQ-terrorists that are lurking in the hinterland between Afghanistan and Pakistan are becoming an increasingly destabilizing force inside Pakistan, which is giving Musharraf –or who ever is in charge next –a strong incentive to resolve the issue.

So does this mean the road is paved for a US training mission? Nope, there is still a high amount of anti-American sentiment in Pakistan , and a large percentage of the population may favor a jirga –or tribal elder sit-down –with the Taliban in order to solve the crisis. In American-speak, a jirga amounts to negotiating with the enemy and declaring peace with the Taliban, which is unacceptable unless it is on our own terms. Remember, Pakistan already did this in 2006, where a jirga resulted in a peace deal in northern Waziristan . Remember:

Details of the deal signed by the two sides were given in a brief speech by local MP Haji Nek Zaman, a member of the council of elders which was authorised to negotiate on behalf of the Pakistani government.

Under the accord, the Pakistani military promises to end major operations in the area.

It will pull most of its soldiers back to military camps, but will still operate border check-points.

That whole thing didn’t work out too well, and it allowed Taliban-linked groups to re-fit, re-arm, and re-group. They even got a new leader with Baitullah Mehsud, who has been blamed for the Bhutto assassination.

It would be great if we could have SF imbedded with the Pakistani Army, working jointly with the Afghan nation army along the border region, calling in air strikes on the Taliban and wiping them out in an enormous pincer operation. That is the gold standard of what we want, but sometimes reality intrudes on the plan, so we’ll have to wait and see how this works out.

January 25, 2008 12:14 PM Terrorism ~ The Long War