US trains Pak to fight rebels

Islamabad, Oct. 25: US special forces have begun teaching a Pakistani paramilitary unit how to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda, hoping to strengthen a key frontline force as violence surges on both sides of the border with Afghanistan.

The sensitive mission puts rare American boots on the ground in a key theatre in the war against extremist groups, but it risks fanning anti-US sentiment among Pakistani Muslims already angry over suspected CIA missile attacks on militants in the same frontier region.

"The American special forces failed in Afghanistan and Iraq," said Ameerul Azim, an official in the hardline Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami. "Those who failed everywhere cannot train our people." Despite such complaints, the training programme comes as some tribes in the frontier zone are setting up militias to help the Pakistani government combat extremist movements. The new forces have been compared to the Sunni Arab militias in Iraq that helped beat back the insurgency there.

Still, the US training programme is reportedly smaller than originally proposed and was delayed, apparently reflecting misgivings in Pakistan’s government about allowing US troops on its territory. Its start has not been officially announced. But Pakistani Army officers confirmed that 32 Americans were training 116 senior personnel of the paramilitary frontier corps at an undisclosed location in the restive northwest, adjacent to Afghanistan. —AP