The Torch: US already training Pakistani paramilitaries

This effort to "train the trainers" is taking place faster than expected (must have been an awful lot of pressure put on the Pakistanis):

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – U.S. special forces have begun teaching a Pakistani paramilitary unit how to fight the Taliban and al-Qaida, hoping to strengthen a key front-line 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 theater in the war against extremist groups, but it risks fanning anti-U.S. 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 hard-line Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami. "Those who failed everywhere cannot train our people."

Despite such complaints, the training program 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 U.S. training program is reportedly smaller than originally proposed and was delayed, apparently reflecting misgivings in Pakistan's government about allowing U.S. troops on its territory.

Its start has not been officially announced, but a Pakistani military officer and a U.S. defense official told The Associated Press that two to three dozen trainers arrived earlier this month.

The Pakistani said the Americans had already begun training senior personnel of the paramilitary Frontier Corps at an undisclosed location in Pakistan's restive northwest, adjacent to Afghanistan. He said the course included classroom and field exercises.

The Pentagon official said the Americans would stay for a few months. He said that it would likely be a one-time effort and that there were no plans to send more trainers.

Both agreed to discuss the program only if granted anonymity, because details had not been made public.

Asked about the program Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to give any specifics. But he contrasted the mission with much larger U.S. training efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, where U.S. soldiers are embedded with local units on the battlefield.

"It is a train-the-trainer type of concept," Whitman said. "They are not actually conducting operations."

The Frontier Corps is a relic of British rule that was long a poorly armed, untrained police force that the government hopes can be remade into a potent unit capable of confronting Taliban militants.

Its troopers are local men, in contrast to the army, which is dominated by ethnic Punjabis and is viewed as an occupying force by the Pashtun tribes living on both sides of the border. U.S. and Pakistani officials argue that the corps' local knowledge and cultural sensitivities make it the best tool in a battle where winning hearts and minds is crucial.

The goal is that a strong Frontier Corps can take on most combat duties, allowing a gradual pullback of the army that is hoped will ease tensions in the northwest...