According to the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, the American forces were there merely “to attend the inauguration ceremony of a school for girls that had recently been renovated with U.S. humanitarian assistance.” These guys were merely trainers part of the small cadre — maybe a hundred or so — of U.S. special forces in Pakistan, beefing up the local Frontier Corps’ counterinsurgency skills.
As the Long War Journal notes, “The soldiers are not supposed to conduct military operations alongside the Frontier Corps units.”
But according to Washington Post columnist and de facto government spokesperson David Ignatius, “the improved U.S.-Pakistani cooperation extends to other activities [beyond training] as well. A senior Pentagon official said Tuesday that in Bajaur, a tribal area bordering Afghanistan, the two countries’ military operations were ‘much more coordinated.’”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member