When last we checked in on Waziristan, Osama was on the run in drag. Now, a story has developed that is big enough to make the Times:
KABUL, Afghanistan, April, 26 - Americans have been training Pakistanis in night flying and airborne assault tactics to combat foreign and local fighters in the tribal areas of Pakistan near the Afghan border, the United States commander here, Lt. Gen. David W. Barno, said Tuesday in an interview.
It is the first time the American military has acknowledged the training. The presence of American troops in Pakistan is regarded as extremely delicate.
General Barno said he had visited the Special Services Group headquarters at Cherat, near the Pakistani city of Peshawar, on Saturday and watched a display by the units trained by the Americans in their new Bell 4 helicopters.
Of course, this is all very sensitive, so perhaps General Barno should not believe his own lying eyes:
Pakistan's chief military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, said there were no American military trainers at Cherat and that General Barno had probably been referring to joint military exercises between the two countries.
"The Pakistan Army has been training with many countries of the world," General Sultan said in a telephone interview. "We have also been conducting joint military training with the U.S. Army many a time earlier. They benefit from each other's experience. They learn from each other. That's what has been happening, and nothing else."
The comments came as the Pakistani Army is gearing up to go into what is considered one of the last redoubts of Al Qaeda and foreign fighters, the tribal area of North Waziristan near the border with Afghanistan. Last year the Pakistani military moved against foreign militants in South Waziristan, killing some 300 fighters and losing about the same number of their own soldiers.
The remnants of the foreign and local militants made their way into North Waziristan. According to some reports, the Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri may also be in the region.
"They are working this hard," General Barno said of the Pakistani military. "It's too early to say that there is a new offensive, and I don't know what direction this is going to take, but there is no question, from the vice chief of the Army staff down, that they very much intend to determine how to best get at the enemy."
General Barno, who leaves next month after 18 months in Afghanistan, said Pakistan had successfully disrupted militants financed by Al Qaeda in South Waziristan...
So, is a new offensive being planned by the Pakistanis? Gen. Barno made similar comments last April 19 in Islamabad, which prompted denials from the Pakistani Corps Commander Peshawar Lt. General Safdar Hussain, and a supportive editorial in the local press.
Time will tell.
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