Taliban fighters force Pakistan troops from tribal region
(NSI News Source Info) Islamabad, August 11, 2008: Pakistan-Taliban
Taliban fighters forced Pakistani soldiers to retreat from a militant stronghold near the border with Afghanistan over the weekend, after a three-day battle sent civilians fleeing from government air strikes.
The pullback from Bajaur, an area of Pakistan's tribal region where the Taliban and al Qaeda have forged particularly close ties, came after the military launched an offensive there late last week.
Military spokesmen said that 6 soldiers had been killed, though the Taliban put the number at 22. It was unclear how many civilians had died.
The clash was the second between government forces and the Taliban in the past two weeks. The army has been trying to push the Taliban out of Swat, an area east of the tribal region where a two-month-old peace agreement between the government of the North-West Frontier Province and the Taliban is in shreds.
There was some speculation among Pakistanis that the sudden offensive in Bajaur was aimed at satisfying the Bush administration, which has increasingly criticized Pakistan for not doing enough to stop Taliban fighters from crossing the border into Afghanistan to attack American soldiers.
The Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force commanded by the Pakistani army, tried to take back a strategic military post in Bajaur that the Taliban had captured earlier this year.
The post, Lowi Sam, is roughly 20 miles from Damadola, the Pakistani town on the border that the United States bombed in January 2006 in the belief that it would hit the Qaeda deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri. The strike set off protests across Pakistan.
Lowi Sam has strategic significance because it provides access to a pass that leads to Kunar Province in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani Specials
(NSI News Source Info) August 11, 2008: Pakistani troops has been having a difficult time going after Islamic terrorists in the tribal areas along the Afghan border. Part of the problem is lack of counter-terror training, and part has been divided loyalties. It works like this. The Pakistani army has been trained largely to fight Indian troops in a conventional war. Counter-terrorist operations against tribal warriors requires a very different skill set. Then there are loyalty issues. About twenty percent of military personnel are from the tribal areas. Being a soldier is considered a worthy career for tribal men, but they have decidedly mixed feelings about fighting their own people.
Well aware of this situation, the U.S. convinced Pakistan to allow the creation of a counter-terror unit trained by American Army Special Forces . The Pakistani military tends to have a favorable attitude towards these Special Forces, and allowed the recruiting and training troops for a special team to go after al Qaeda and Taliban leaders in the tribal areas.
This was not an entirely new undertaking. Half a century ago, U.S. Special Forces helped Pakistan create its first commando unit, the SSG (Special Service Group). But these troops, like the rest of the Pakistani armed forces, have been preparing for another war with India. Unofficially, the Pakistani Special Forces has a strength of about 3,000 troops, and in the last twenty years, they have been involved aiding foreign and Afghan Islamic radicals fighting Russians in Afghanistan, and aiding similar groups fighting in Kashmir. Thus many of the SSG operators feel a close affinity with Islamic radical warriors and terrorists. Despite that, they have followed orders and successfully undertaken operations against Islamic radicals. This led to SSG members being targeted after the SSG led the assault on the Red Mosque in the Summer of 2007. This appears to have created some bad feelings between SSG and their former Islamic radical comrades.
Now there is a section of the Pakistani Special Service Group that specializes in U.S. counter-terrorism methods. Exactly how they will operate, how many of them there are and how they will work with foreign counter-terror operators, is all classified. But they are out there now, doing something.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Taliban fighters force Pakistan troops from tribal region
Taliban fighters force Pakistan troops from tribal region
(NSI News Source Info) Islamabad, August 11, 2008: Pakistan-Taliban
Taliban fighters forced Pakistani soldiers to retreat from a militant stronghold near the border with Afghanistan over the weekend, after a three-day battle sent civilians fleeing from government air strikes.
The pullback from Bajaur, an area of Pakistan's tribal region where the Taliban and al Qaeda have forged particularly close ties, came after the military launched an offensive there late last week.
Military spokesmen said that 6 soldiers had been killed, though the Taliban put the number at 22. It was unclear how many civilians had died.
The clash was the second between government forces and the Taliban in the past two weeks. The army has been trying to push the Taliban out of Swat, an area east of the tribal region where a two-month-old peace agreement between the government of the North-West Frontier Province and the Taliban is in shreds.
There was some speculation among Pakistanis that the sudden offensive in Bajaur was aimed at satisfying the Bush administration, which has increasingly criticized Pakistan for not doing enough to stop Taliban fighters from crossing the border into Afghanistan to attack American soldiers.
The Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force commanded by the Pakistani army, tried to take back a strategic military post in Bajaur that the Taliban had captured earlier this year.
The post, Lowi Sam, is roughly 20 miles from Damadola, the Pakistani town on the border that the United States bombed in January 2006 in the belief that it would hit the Qaeda deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri. The strike set off protests across Pakistan.
Lowi Sam has strategic significance because it provides access to a pass that leads to Kunar Province in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani Specials
(NSI News Source Info) August 11, 2008: Pakistani troops has been having a difficult time going after Islamic terrorists in the tribal areas along the Afghan border. Part of the problem is lack of counter-terror training, and part has been divided loyalties. It works like this. The Pakistani army has been trained largely to fight Indian troops in a conventional war. Counter-terrorist operations against tribal warriors requires a very different skill set. Then there are loyalty issues. About twenty percent of military personnel are from the tribal areas. Being a soldier is considered a worthy career for tribal men, but they have decidedly mixed feelings about fighting their own people.
Well aware of this situation, the U.S. convinced Pakistan to allow the creation of a counter-terror unit trained by American Army Special Forces . The Pakistani military tends to have a favorable attitude towards these Special Forces, and allowed the recruiting and training troops for a special team to go after al Qaeda and Taliban leaders in the tribal areas.
This was not an entirely new undertaking. Half a century ago, U.S. Special Forces helped Pakistan create its first commando unit, the SSG (Special Service Group). But these troops, like the rest of the Pakistani armed forces, have been preparing for another war with India. Unofficially, the Pakistani Special Forces has a strength of about 3,000 troops, and in the last twenty years, they have been involved aiding foreign and Afghan Islamic radicals fighting Russians in Afghanistan, and aiding similar groups fighting in Kashmir. Thus many of the SSG operators feel a close affinity with Islamic radical warriors and terrorists. Despite that, they have followed orders and successfully undertaken operations against Islamic radicals. This led to SSG members being targeted after the SSG led the assault on the Red Mosque in the Summer of 2007. This appears to have created some bad feelings between SSG and their former Islamic radical comrades.
Now there is a section of the Pakistani Special Service Group that specializes in U.S. counter-terrorism methods. Exactly how they will operate, how many of them there are and how they will work with foreign counter-terror operators, is all classified. But they are out there now, doing something.
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