The Pentagon wants to nearly double the funding to train and equip a Pakistani paramilitary force, saying the locally based fighters are more effective in the difficult region bordering Afghanistan.
The US military has asked to spend US$97 million next year, compared with US$52.6 million this year, on training and equipping the Frontier Corps, which has personnel of the same ethnicity as the recalcitrant tribes along the border.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said the US is not arming the Frontier Corps, but is spending money to build a training center in the region for the fighters while also looking for additional funds to buy them equipment such as helmets, vests and night-vision goggles.
The increased effort comes as violence along the border continues to escalate, raising questions about how long the Pakistanis can continue to battle the pro-Taliban and al-Qaida militants known to be hiding in the rugged mountains.
"We believe that, particularly in this part of Pakistan, it is more effective to work with a force raised from locals than it is to work with the [Pakistani] army, who [sic] is not viewed with the same respect in that part of the country as is the Frontier Corps," Morrell said.
It is more effective, he said, to deal with the Frontier Corps because it is made up of people who are "locally recruited and have local knowledge, language skills and most of all credibility with the people who live in those areas."
This year's funding is being used to set up eight new Frontier Corps battalions and the money for next year would continue the training and equipping efforts as well as set up an additional four battalions.
Morrell said the US Army expects to provide the trainers, but some other governments may also participate.
"I don't think we would be proceeding with a plan of this nature, at this cost, unless we had some degree of confidence that it would be fruitful," Morrell said, describing the program as a joint venture with the Pakistani government.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has said his government will provide the fighters with tanks and guns so they can take a lead role next year, allowing the country's army to take a more supporting role.
Morrell said the Pentagon is also hoping to establish border surveillance centers and is moving ahead with plans for one on the Afghan side of the border.
The money for next year is tied up in the war funding legislation that has stalled in Congress, he said.
Morrell said the money would not be used to buy ammunition or weapons for the Frontier Corps and would only buy equipment that will help them patrol the region.
The retooling of the Frontier Corps is part of a strategy that includes flooding northwestern Pakistan with development aid and propping up beleaguered pro-government elders, dozens of whom have been killed as US spies by militants.
The government hopes that approach will be more effective than a series of peace deals struck in 2005 and last year under which tribal leaders were supposed to curb militancy in return for a withdrawal of troops after earlier rounds of bloody fighting.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was