I now offer my sincere apologies for doubting the dedication of the Musharef regime. This one pushes me over.
washingtonpost.com
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U.S. Units Attacking Al Qaeda In Pakistan
Covert Operation Straddles Border
By Dana Priest and Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, April 25, 2002; Page A01
Covert U.S. military units have been conducting reconnaissance operations in Pakistan in recent weeks and participated in attacks on suspected al Qaeda hide-outs there, opening a new front in a shadowy war being waged by the United States along the mountainous Afghan-Pakistan border, according to U.S. military officials.
U.S. Special Operations troops based on the Afghanistan side of the frontier have been attacked several times a week over the last month and have been in several firefights with al Qaeda militants, these officials said. The Americans have suffered some casualties, though no American has been killed, officials said.
The new U.S. strategy, which defense officials have not publicized, helps explain the evolution of the Afghanistan conflict since U.S. forces early last month conducted a week-long ground and air assault on al Qaeda concentrations in the Shahikot valley south of Kabul, the Afghan capital.
Unlike that battle -- and others earlier in the war -- U.S. Special Forces and covert soldiers from the Army's Delta Force are now operating in small groups against handfuls of al Qaeda fighters. Moreover, the al Qaeda fighters are no longer concentrating but have gone underground or are mixing with the population, forcing the Americans to devise strategies to draw them out.
To carry out this operation, American forces are active not only in Paktia and Paktika provinces in Afghanistan, areas south of Kabul where U.S. officials say pockets of al Qaeda fighters remain, but also in adjacent tribal areas in Pakistan where the government in Islamabad has only limited authority, officials said.
The Pakistani government is nervous about the U.S. operations on its territory, especially with the approach of a referendum Tuesday on extending by five years the rule of President Pervez Musharraf, who seized power through a bloodless coup in 1999. Although the expansion of the war into Pakistan is a recognition by the U.S. military that al Qaeda is operating on both sides of the border, it risks increasing political turmoil in Pakistan, where Musharraf's support for the war has sparked considerable opposition from Islamic political parties.
Pakistan has asked the United States to be as quiet as possible about U.S. activities inside the country, which also involve the presence of American warplanes, Special Operations troops and regular forces at four Pakistani bases.
The top spokesman for Pakistan's military government said yesterday he had no knowledge of U.S. military operations inside Pakistan.
"I think there's some confusion," said Maj. Gen. Rashid Qureshi. "What I'd heard earlier is that the only thing that may be happening is a communication link. I don't think any Special Forces or Delta Force commandos are operating inside Pakistan."
Army Col. Rick Thomas, a spokesman for the Central Command, the U.S. military headquarters for the war, said that "Pakistan has been a staunch ally in the war against terrorism" and that, as part of that, the U.S. military has established liaison arrangements with the Pakistani military. "Beyond that, it is our policy not to discuss current or future operations," he said.
But a former U.S. official steeped in Pakistani affairs offered a different view. "It is my impression that there is some quiet cooperation going on, but it's going to be kept as quiet as possible," said Robert B. Oakley, a former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan.
The New York Times reported yesterday that Pakistan has agreed to have U.S. advisers accompany Pakistani troops on patrols in border areas, but it has not been disclosed until now that the U.S. military has already participated in attacks in Pakistan.
Despite the concern about political turbulence inside Pakistan, the U.S. and allied offensive is underway because defense officials believe it is necessary to keep al Qaeda fighters and their allies in Afghanistan's vanquished Taliban militia on the run. Relentless pursuit of al Qaeda members, they calculate, will help deter new attacks on Americans, whether in Afghanistan or in the United States.
Officials also worry that Afghanistan is entering an extremely sensitive phase. As spring arrives, the melting of snow will open up secondary mountain passes and give Pakistani supporters of the Taliban more opportunity to sneak into Afghanistan. Also, a grand council is being formed in Afghanistan to pick a new government in June. Meanwhile, there have been a series of violent attacks in and around Kabul recently, raising worries about political instability.
The deployment of British Marines to the Afghan provinces last week effectively set up a screen for the new battlefield, cutting off some of the western approaches to the border area. The deployment also familiarized the British forces with some of the difficulties of operating along barren, waterless ridges as high as 12,000 feet.
In the Afghan regions, members of the U.S. Special Forces and Delta Force have been deliberately exposing themselves to attack to draw out the pockets of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters believed to be hiding in the border area, officials said. This is a novelty for counterinsurgency tactics, which usually are more proactive. Officials said the strategy is required because the militants are operating in groups of 15 or smaller.
The U.S. forces, which themselves generally work in groups of just three or four people, have been assaulted by small arms fire, a rocket-propelled grenade and, in one incident, a knife. One Afghan ally working with the U.S. forces was attacked with an ax.
"We have to get them to shoot at us," said one soldier. It is frustrating, one official said, because this tactic effectively means that al Qaeda "has the offensive." Also, the al Qaeda attacks frequently are launched from within larger groups of bystanders on the streets of villages and towns such as Khost, making the decision to counterattack difficult, officials said.
"The decision to shoot or not shoot is one of the toughest decisions," said one source.
The enemy fighters tend to have sophisticated communications equipment and "better survival gear than we have," said one knowledgeable source. Some of the fighters have carried U.S. equipment that apparently was captured during last month's battle in the Shahikot valley.
The al Qaeda members have impressed their American opponents with their military skills, most notably an ability to observe U.S. combat techniques and adjust accordingly. Despite months of bombing and last month's attack by thousands of U.S. and allied fighters, the al Qaeda groups continue to execute well-coordinated operations, officials said. In one instance, enemy fighters are believed to have launched a synchronized multipronged attack within a 10-minute period.
As in the opening two months of the war, U.S. Special Forces continue to work with Afghan allies and to call in airstrikes. But they are much less dependent on air power at this stage. Rather, warplanes and Special Operations attack helicopters are being used to close off caves, to destroy footpaths and routes through the mountains, and to scout and confirm electronic emissions believed to be coming from al Qaeda troops.
Another significant difference is that, unlike the tactically experienced commanders of the Northern Alliance, which seized much of the country from the Taliban last fall, Special Forces troops are having to depend on Afghan allies with little fighting experience and whose allegiances are not well established. "This is unlike anything I have ever seen," said one source familiar with the history of counterinsurgency operations involving Special Forces.
U.S. military officials said that their goal is to kill or capture as many al Qaeda members as possible, and that they believe they are succeeding, albeit slowly, in dozens of small encounters in which one or two fighters are shot. "They have no support" among the people of eastern Afghanistan, asserted one U.S. officer.
Not all analysts share this view, believing that the Pashtun heartland in southeastern Afghanistan remains sympathetic to the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies. Analysts worry as well that the fighting between Israel and the Palestinians is spawning a new crop of recruits from the Middle East that will connect with al Qaeda.
Correspondent Karl Vick in Islamabad contributed to this report. |
