Updates Below

I posted on the events that took place this week on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan the involved an hours long fire fight between US forces-Afghan forces and Pakistan-Taliban forces here, here, here, here and here.   To summarize I speculated that the Pak Frontier Corps (FC) outpost that was supposedly attacked by the US was actually a haven for Taliban allies, placed in the FC to provide cover for the Taliban’s cross border attacks into Afghanistan.  I noted evidence of the Taliban and FC fighting side by side as the Taliban retreated back into Pakistan.

I noted that for this to happen some pro-Taliban members in the ISI had to help place these turncoats in the FC (which recruit from local tribes) and were probably the ones in the media (going unnamed) who were echoing the Taliban story the action was supposedly US-Afghan forces attacking into Pakistan (what we would want with an old-busted FC outpost is beyond me – probably couldn’t sell it for a nickel on E-Bay).

I found some interesting reports over the last 24 hours which bolster my speculation.  First is a report from the Washington Post noting this is not the first time FC forces have targeted US forces (which can only be done when US forces come near enough to the border to hit):

A Western military official in Pakistan familiar with operations in the tribal region said that officials have become increasingly concerned that Pakistan’s Frontier Corps, the paramilitary forces charged with monitoring activities along the border, is not properly trained.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of diplomatic sensitivities, said in an interview a day before the strike occurred that some Western officials had begun to harbor doubts about the paramilitary group’s ability to handle the challenges posed by the Taliban. The Frontier Corps’ members are recruited from the tribal areas and are known in some instances to have fired on U.S. troops.

OK, so this is not the first or an isolated instance of FC forces firing on US forces.  The next report is from CNS News, and it that goes much further in echoing my view of events:

The U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan have voiced concern about the agreements and their implications for security across the border. TTF leader Baitullah Mehsud, who is based in the FATA, vowed recently that the “jihad” in Afghanistan would continue irrespective of negotiated peace accords with the Pakistan government.

Tuesday’s border clash occurred shortly after a new report by the Rand Corporation raised questions about the reliability of the Frontier Corps as well as Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in the campaign against terrorism.

The report said not only had the FC and ISI failed to root out insurgent groups based in Pakistan, but some officials also provided direct help to Taliban militants

…

According to regional security analyst Bahukutumbi Raman, Taliban cross-border infiltration into Afghanistan often takes place through areas manned by the FC.

Raman, director of the Institute for Topical Studies in Chennai, India, said FC members were almost exclusively recruited from local Pashtun tribes, and some were suspected of sympathizing with fellow Pashtuns in the Taliban.

He noted that, in negotiating peace deals with the Pakistani authorities, local Taliban leaders’ demands have included removal of Pakistani Army troops from border areas and their replacement by members of the FC.

That demand, Raman said, “reflects their confidence that the FC personnel will be more friendly to the Taliban.”

As I speculated, this looks more like we exposed Terrorist sympathizers inside the Pak government (acting as unnamed sources for inflammatory quotes to liberal news outlets) and inside the FC.  Is it really any wonder Pakistan is all of sudden happy to join the US and Afghanistan in the investigation into this incident?  

The Pakistani people voted out nearly all the Taliban aligned elected leaders out of office and put trust in the current government to bring peace.  There is little chance they voted to support a covert war with Afghanistan and the US, led from the lawless tribal areas.  If the US is forced to impose economic sanctions on Pakistan for violating agreements on terrorists, the people of Pakistan will soon learn how bad it really can be to harbor terrorists so they can attack outside their country.

We will not allow another 9-11.  The anti-war movement being pushed by the liberal media in this country is just not that strong.

Update:  Even more eyewitness accounts of Frontier Corps members aiding or fighting with al-Qaeda and Taliban against US Forces.

One U.S. veteran involved in the border fight recently told me about an ambush in which a Special Forces operator was killed. U.S. troops following a blood trail leading to a wounded attacker found he was a Frontier Guard officer carrying a map that identified multiple U.S. “hide sites” used to maintain covert surveillance of cross-border incursions.

When I visited Camp Tillman near Lwara, Afghanistan three years ago for the New York Daily News, U.S. commanders complained bitterly about a number of incidents in which Frontier Corps troops looked the other way when Al Qaeda-led insurgents ambushed U.S. troops and never warned their American counterparts of interlopers they could plainly see from their rocky outposts.

Last April, a Washington Post reporter visited the same area and was told by one soldier: “The Frontier Corps might as well be Taliban …. They are active facilitators of infiltration.”

My speculation seems to be holding out here.  The next questions is, how high up into the Pak government did this event expose any Taliban/al-Qaeda traitors?

Tags: Afghanistan, ISI, NATO, Pakistan, Taliban