Pentagon
30 June 2008
The New York Times reports there is a secret plan to put Americancommandos in Pakistan's tribal areas, along the Afghanistan border, tohunt for terrorists who take refuge there. But the Times says the planhas not been implemented due to concerns about the impact of suchoperations. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.
TheTimes report says the plan was designed to end disagreements among U.S.government agencies about how to pursue leaders of the al-Qaidaterrorist network. But the newspaper says those same disagreementshave prevented the plan from being implemented.
In particular,the paper says there is concern about the impact on Pakistan'sgovernment, a key U.S. ally, if the presence of U.S. ground troopsbecame public.
The Times reports "mounting frustration" in theU.S. Defense Department about the continuing delay in implementing theplan.
But Spokesman Bryan Whitman says, although he can not comment onwhether any such secret plan exists, he is not aware of any frustrationabout not using U.S. troops to hunt terrorists inside Pakistan.
"I,quite frankly, have not sensed that kind of frustration," he said. "Ihave sensed the same kind of frustration that you have heard from ourmilitary commanders, and that is with a border region that is long,challenging, porous, in an area where operations have taken place inthe past, and where some elements have appeared to find some safe havenin Pakistan, and what Pakistan is doing to try to address those."
Theuse of Pakistani territory along the Afghan border as a safe haven foral-Qaida and other terrorist groups has been a cause of growing concernamong U.S. officials. The groups regularly send militants across theborder to attack U.S., Afghan and allied forces. Pakistan says a U.S.air strike against one such group killed 11 Pakistani soldiers earlierthis month.
Last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gatescalled the situation "a real concern." But he also said the insurgentactivity has increased only recently.
Gates indicated the United States is ready to help Pakistan address the problem, but did not specify exactly how.
"ThePakistani government, I think, now understands that it is a problem forthe Pakistani government as well," he said. "It is not just a problemfor us. So I think this creates an opportunity for us to talk withthem and see if we can work together in a better way to try and dealwith the problem in the FATA."
The FATA are Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, along the Afghan border.
TheNew York Times says its story is based on more than four dozeninterviews with current and former U.S. and Pakistani officials. Itsays al-Qaida now has a string of camps in Pakistan's border area thatgive it a similar capability to what it had in Afghanistan eight yearsago, when it planned the September 11th attacks.
The articlequotes the Pakistani general responsible for the region as denyingallegations of a strong terrorist presence, but it also quotes U.S.officials who are critical of the general's efforts to get the facts.
Fornow at least, the United States is only conducting air strikes in thearea, based on intelligence reports or when in 'hot pursuit' ofterrorist units.
But Pentagon Spokesman Bryan Whitman says thehunt for al-Qaida leaders and the broader war on terrorism are not justU.S. concerns, and American forces will continue to implement thepolicy outlined by President Bush just after the September 11 attacks.
"Wecontinue to pursue terrorist activities wherever they take place," hesaid. "We seek to not only deny them operations, but also the abilityto plan, seek safe harbor. Our efforts are to identify, capture, ifnecessary kill."
U.S. officials say when it comes to thePakistan-Afghanistan border area, that effort needs to be pursued incooperation with those two governments, and with other allies in theNATO and coalition commands.