From Kavkaz-Center:

The US is considering a plan to create gangs of mercenaries from local population in the border areas of Pakistan to fight al-Qaida and the Taliban, emulating its tactics in Iraq’s Anbar province.

The plan would involve increasing the number of US trainers in Pakistan by dozens from the current number of around 50, and the direct financing of a separate tribal “paramilitary force” that has so far proved largely ineffective. Washington would also pay militias that agreed to fight al-Qaida and foreign “extremists”…

Some other elements of the campaign, approved in principle by the US and Pakistan, await funding. They include 0m (£170.7m) over several years to help train and equip the frontier corps, a “paramilitary force” that has around 85,000 members and is recruited from border tribes.

The Pentagon has this to add, from GlobalSecurity via Voice of America:

Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell says the idea of trying to engage Pakistani tribal leaders came from a visit to Pakistan by the head of U.S. Special Operations Command, Admiral Eric Olson. Admiral Olson is the lead defense official in the effort to increase international cooperation in the global war on terror, and to enhance the capabilities of partner nations.

“Admiral Olson went there,” he said. “He met with the Pakistanis. And they were both desirous of figuring out ways in which there could be greater cooperation. That’s it.”

Morrell says the Admiral’s staff at Special Operations Command developed some proposals, and the New York Times says those ideas are now being circulated among experts outside the Defense Department. But Morrell says the ideas have not been endorsed by Admiral Olson or anyone else.

Note that the Pentagon isn’t disavowing the report, they’re simply saying it hasn’t been officially endorsed. Additionally, given that the US policy in Anbar could be reasonably considered a success from a PR point of view, it’s only natural that they would look elsewhere to see if the same policy could be useful. However, it does raise some questions about the consequences of such policy, something that remains unknown even in Anbar. Are these militias pro-US or simply anti-Taliban, and at the heart of it, who is using whom?

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