The United States sees Pakistani cooperation in defeating militants in the northwest of the country as crucial to winning the war in neighbouring Afghanistan. The Obama administration has focused on strengthening Pakistan’s counterinsurgency capabilities, and is pushing for increased assistance for equipment and training for Pakistani forces. This article, by the Council on Foreign Relations, outlines the forms this assistance has taken and examines some of the major debates surrounding it. It highlights the suggestion that Pakistan may not be fully committed to refocusing its army on counterinsurgency as it still sees India as its biggest security threat.
Pakistan has one of the largest armies in the world. It is trained in conventional warfare, and focused largely on India. The government’s military strategy to deal with the insurgency has involved peace deals interspersed with offensives that employ heavy force to clear militant-held areas. However, the government recently announced the creation of a national counterterrorism authority and a special force of 80,000 troops will be recruited for it.
The US is providing substantial support to the Pakistani army. It is also offering assistance in a number of areas:
- The Frontier Corps (FC) are a federal paramilitary force of 80,000 troops. They have been heavily involved in military actions in the tribal belt since 2003. They have suffered significant casualties, which analysts attribute to the force’s poor training and equipment. The US has been working to reform the force. However, difficulties remain with army generals’ motivation to improve training for FC troops and the command structure of the FC.
- Most US aid for Pakistan has favoured the Pakistani military, but there are calls from analysts to reallocate these resources to police and civilian intelligence agencies seen as crucial for maintaining internal security. However, police do not operate in the tribal region, and in most other areas they have been ineffective. Questions remain over the police’s focus on protecting citizens as opposed to important people of state.
However, debates about security cooperation persist in both Pakistan and the US:
- Pakistan’s security elite and citizens believe that the US will abandon Pakistan again when Washington’s security interests change. US military actions such as the use of predator drone aircraft to target suspected terrorists in the tribal region have fueled resentment against Washington.
- While Pakistan publicly welcomes American assistance, there is less cooperation on training than Washington would like. They suggest that Pakistani authorities don’t see the need to re-orientate the military as a counterinsurgency force and use this aid to boost it’s conventional capabilities against India, which they view as a bigger threat.
- Experts in the US suggest that equipment like F-16s may not be directly relevant to the fight against terrorism but must be provided to Pakistan because they have become connected to the Pakistani military’s capacity to trust the US military.
