US to spend over $400m to enhance FC

WASHINGTON: The US could spend more than $400 million in the next several years to enhance the Frontier Corps (FC), including building a training base near Peshawar, a senior Bush administration official said.

The Pentagon has spent about $25 million so far to equip the FC with new body armour, vehicles, radios and surveillance equipment, and plans to spend $75 million more in the next year, US newspaper The New York Times reported on Sunday.

At the request of the Chief of the Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the US Central Command two weeks ago sent a four-member intelligence team, led by a lieutenant colonel, to work closely with Pakistani intelligence officers in Islamabad, the NYT reported. The Americans are helping with techniques on sharing satellite imagery and addressing Pakistani requests to buy equipment used to intercept the communications of the militants, a senior US official said.

The US military is developing a plan to send about 100 American trainers to work with the FC, which is the vanguard in the fight against Al-Qaeda and other extremist groups in the tribal areas, US military officials said.

The New York Times report said Pakistan had ruled out allowing the US combat troops to fight Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in the tribal areas, but the Pakistani leaders had privately indicated that they would welcome additional American trainers to help teach new skills to their troops.

Even though the training programme would unfold over several months, it was being disclosed at a time of heightened operations in the tribal areas, the report said. The 40-page classified plan now under review at the US Central Command to help train about 85,000 FC members would significantly increase the size and scope of the American training role in the country, the report added.

That document, titled “Plan for Training the Frontier Corps,” envisions a combination of the special forces and the regular Army troops working with the FC in basic marksmanship, infantry skills and counter-insurgency techniques, US Defence Department officials said.

The US trainers initially would be restricted to the training compounds, but with Pakistani consent could eventually accompany the Pakistani troops on missions “to the point of contact” with the militants, as the American trainers now do with the Iraqi troops in Iraq, a senior US military official said, the NYT report quoted. Britain is also considering a similar training mission in Pakistan, officials said. A spokesman at the British Embassy here declined to comment.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=13324
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This does not even include the amount Pakistan itself will pour into the FC...ultimately I think the FC will become a Regular-standard unit specialized in low-intensity conflict, internal security, counter-insurgency & militant-warfare. Hopefully we will see these guys equipped with MRAPs, UAVs, helicopters (attack & transport), COIN MBTs, etc.

can we have cash upfront....LOL

With the current government (in-term AND new)?...the don't give a toss about FC...best that the U.S. ensures the transactions directly.

Ah, no thanks, not with Mr. 10% and Ganja around...

Sounds interesting, the Frontier Corps seriously need to be modernized, and money from the US can speed that process up. Plus it will help stimulate the domestic defense industry (tanks, bullet proof armor, etc.). The FC should be turned into a complete guerrilla fighting, anti-militant force; with 85,000 (or so) soldiers, they can make a huge difference.

That would be the goal...pretty cool to have 500 000 troops for India, and an extra 150 000 for India's muppets.

"Beware Greeks bearing gifts."

A

I think moderators should merge this topic with this thread...both entail the same topic:
http://pakistanidefenceforum.com//index.php?showtopic=73756

Architect,

I agree with you completely, but I think by raising a fluid and completely transparent interior security/national defence force - we can get away with taking in tons of foreign assistance and keep our sovereignty. At the end of the day the main military - i.e. 500k troops, PAF, PN, Strategic Command, etc - should remain beyond the realm of international observers and completely financed through Pakistani money.

The Pakistani defence budget is expected to increase by at least 10%/year...and that does not include foreign assistance, money used from other means of revenue, etc. At the end of it I think Pakistan could be spending 1/3 or nearly 1/2 as much as India on defence, but does a good job keeping it low key. One key note is that the defence budget itself - around $4bn USD - just includes the operation of the military...procurement costs are separate.

US to cater Pak’s defence needs: Mullen
Wednesday March 05, 2008


ISLAMABAD: US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm Michael Mullen on Tuesday assured that US will provide maximum assistance to Pakistan to cater its defence needs.
US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm Michael Mullen expressed these views during his separate meetings with President Musharraf and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in Presidential Camp Office and General Head Quarters respectively on Tuesday.

Well-placed Sources told Online that the meeting lasted for quite a while in which host of issues were discussed in length.

President Musharraf said that Pakistan had to bear heavy losses in fight against terrorism but we would continue to clamp down on terrorists in the best of national interest.

During the meetings, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm Michael Mullen lauded Pakistan’s role in war on terror adding that it will keep on supporting Pakistan to curb the menace.

He further said that US is ready to assist Pakistan in all the fields of common interest especially defence.

US is ready to help Pakistan in combating terrorism along the Pak-Afghan Border, FATA and Swat, he maintained.

Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, United States, Admiral Michael Mullen also visited General Headquarters and called on Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. He remained with him for some time and discussed matters of professional interest with particular reference to security situation in the region.


http://paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?198095

Yep. And those 150,000 can be completely armed/trained with military aid. The 500,000 regulars then, can be armed/trained with Pakistani cash only. That way, no one can question our purchases (for the regulars) or have any direct effect on the regular army. Plus the 150,000 soldiers will be armed/trained solely for counter-insurgency missions (and with foreign money, so it won't cost us a thing) so they will do a much better job fighting the militants.

Pakistan reduced its military to 450,000 troops a while back.

That was an eyewash, about 60,000 non-combatant jobs were moved to CP (Civilian Personnel) Directorate, while those don't count as army troops but it did relieve combatant trained soldiers to take over real combatant role.............. so there has never been a real reduction in Army.


Only good thing about military recruitment lately is that they added a LOT of sindhi and Balochis to bring about some balance (thanks to musharraf).

Yet to be paid war on terror dues of 500 mln dlrs may cripple Pak economy

Islamabad, Apr 3 : Already facing an economic crisis-like situation, the new federal government in Pakistan might face trouble in controlling the rising budget deficit if the US doesn't reimburse 500 million dollars which it had committed to Islamabad to continue its fight against terror, especially in tribal areas.

The US was supposed to reimburse the amount last year. Pakistan has so far received only 281 million dollars out of the 750 million dollars the US had promised Islamabad for combating terrorism in tribal areas.

The amount should have been reimbursed last year, adding that the non-payment would create serious problems for the new government in controlling the rising budget deficit," said a well-placed in the Pakistan government.

"Pakistan has been regularly receiving the reimbursement until March 2007 by the US authorities for the money it spent on military operations to combat militancy in tribal areas," the Dawn quoted him as saying.

According to the paper, the finance ministry has placed the amount under the head "Expenditure", and the amount has been reflected under the account of "Non-revenue" measures.

The amount had been withheld despite the fact that Pakistan had already submitted details of the fund spent on the war on terror to the US authorities through its embassy in Islamabad, said the source.

A senior official said that the country had received 9.343 billion dollars till December 2007 from the US under different accounts from 2001-02. Of this, 5.042 billion dollars had been reimbursed to Pakistan on account of the war of terror, which was not assistance. And an amount of 1.495 billion dollar debt had been written off, he added.

Under the Camp David accord signed in 2003, the US agreed to provide 3 billion dollars in assistance to Pakistan -- half military and half budget financing. That meant payment of 600 million dollars per annum -- 300 million dollars each for military and finance assistance -- in five years.

However, the budget-financing amount has been reduced to 200 million dollars while 100 million dollars has been directed to USAID.

The official said the US government had now decided to divert the remaining 200 million dollar budgetary grant to USAID from the year 2007-08, adding to the problems of the new government.

Under the accord, it was agreed that 200 million dollars would be paid to the Pakistani government for financing balance of payment and 100 million dollars would go to USAID. The official said this sudden change in the US policy would create serious problems for the new government in budget making and balance of payment.


http://story.irishsun.com/index.php/ct/9/c...id/344293/cs/1/

Sigh

US general questions ability of FC to combat militants

WASHINGTON: United States Army General Dan McNeill, who stepped down earlier this month as the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, on Friday cast doubt on the ability of Pakistan’s Frontier Corps paramilitary force to combat militants.

“My experience is it takes well-trained, well-equipped forces — disciplined — to take this thing on,” he said. “Theyey’re pretty much tribals themselves,” he said of the Frontier Corps (FC). “They might find it more challenging than would regular frontline, well-trained, well-equipped soldiers.”

...

More reliance: Both Pakistan and the Bush administration have said that they plan to rely more on the FC to fight insurgents in the Tribal Areas. The Pentagon has developed a multimillion-dollar programme to train and equip the force. But the administration has faced questions about the programme in Congress, with senators questioning whether the US should be financing the corps if some elements of the Pakistani military have offered support to the Taliban insurgents.

McNeill also voiced doubts, shared by other Western officials, about efforts by Pakistan’s new government to reach deals with tribal leaders to end militant violence in return for the withdrawal of security forces from their areas. “The history is that those peace deals have not worked,” McNeill said. “I think what’s missing is action to keep pressure on the insurgents.”

Higher: McNeill said violence in the US-led eastern sector of Afghanistan was 50 percent higher in April than a year ago and much of the increase was due to a lack of pressure on militants by Pakistani forces on their side of the border. reuters


FC incapable of fighting insurgents: US general

WASHINGTON, June 13: A US general on Friday accused the Frontier Corps of shooting American military personnel during border meetings and said the force is incapable of fighting insurgents.

Gen Dan McNeill, who commanded Nato forces in Afghanistan till June 3, said attacks on Nato and Afghan soldiers, will never stop unless the Pakistani military steps up its efforts to fight these insurgents.

“My understanding of what the Frontier Corps is, is they are pretty much tribals themselves,” he told journalists at the Pentagon. “They might find it more challenging than would regular frontline, well-trained, well-equipped and well-led soldiers” to fight insurgents.

At this rate there will be no Frontier crops left to equip since US is bombing the living daylights out of us.

Yes thats it advertise $400 million and bomb us and then offer some more great news!