145;CIA recruiting US ex-commandos

CIA and other US agencies have been recruiting scores of former special operations warriors to augment the US8217; counter-terror operation...

CIA and other US agencies have been recruiting scores of former special operations warriors to augment the US8217; counter-terror operations in Pakistan, a media report says.

The stated US policy is that no American troops are inside Pakistan pursuing Osama bin Laden8217;s Al Qaeda terrorists or advising local troops but 8216;8216;the reality is there are a load of contracts8217;8217; with US agencies attracting veterans of special forces and other elite units to Pakistan, a report published in the Washington Times said.

While US forces as such are not allowed to operate inside Pakistani territory on the Afghan-Pakistan border, 8216;8216;Washington is getting around the ban by signing up former Delta Force commandos, Seals sea, air and land forces and assigning them to special duties in Pakistan, the paper reported, quoting two sources close to the special operations community.

8216;8216;There are a load of contracts going on for ex-SF Special Forces types there for every alphabet agency there is,8217;8217; one of the sources said.

The former covert warriors have joined CIA operations in Pakistan and train local soldiers in counter-insurgency techniques. 8216;8216;The de facto deployment of US troops is an example of how far Pakistan has come in its global alliances. Once a backer of the Al Qaeda-supporting Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Islamabad has become one of Washington8217;s most essential allies. There was a time when such cooperation seemed impossible,8217;8217; said the paper.

nbsp;	Urdu speaking US terror experts in Pak

		nbsp;	8226; WASHINGTON: US intelligence and security agencies have reportedly handpicked hundreds of men and women, given them crash courses in Urdu and Pushto, and deployed them for duties in Pakistan. According to The Daily Times, the Pentagon has let these 8216;8216;counter-terrorism experts8217;8217; loose in Pakistan, which is still seen by Washington as 8216;8216;dangerous8217;8217; and a 8216;8216;breeding ground of Islamist terrorists8217;8217;. 8212;ANI	nbsp;

It recalled that in the early days of President George W. Bush8217;s term, Dan Gallington, then a senior adviser to Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, received a courtesy call from a former top Pakistani defence official who told him the Taliban was sure to defeat the Northern Alliance and conquer Afghanistan. This person also predicted that Pakistan would fall to Islamic militants 8212; making it the first theocracy to own nuclear weapons.

Three years later, the paper noted, Pakistan is the setting for the third hot war in the global war on terrorism, joining Afghanistan and Iraq as places where the military hunts and battles Al Qaeda and other terrorists.