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US training Pakistanis for terror hunt

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: Special Pakistani forces are being trained at an air force base in Florida and in Quetta by the Americans to conduct air assaults on terrorist cells, free hostages and search for Osama Bin Laden.

“We are training pilots, mechanics and ground forces into a rapid interdiction force. The unit (under training) is cutting edge. There is nothing like it in Pakistan,” according to Paul O’Sullivan, director of Air Wing operations at the Florida base.

The 50th squadron of the Frontier Corps is one of the crack units being prepared for these special operations. Frontier Corps operates under Pakistan’s Ministry of the Interior. A part of the corps is being trained in Quetta that O’Sullivan calls a “hotbed of drug lords and terrorists”. Working from a desolate 3,200-foot dirt runway, the unit has grown from five Huey helicopters and three Cessna Caravan turboprops in July 2002 to 10 helicopters. US Congress appropriated $61 million for the corps. The training programme is being managed by Howard Leedham, the State Department’s senior aviation adviser, and several contractors.

According to an official publication, the corps is a highly manoeuvrable unit that thrives on stealth and “shock actions” with an emphasis on night operations. According to Leedham, a former British Special Forces commander and a Royal Navy pilot, “We bring in the troops and get them out quickly”. He personally has trained the Pakistani helicopter assault force and integrated both the ground and air components into an “elite day and night strike team”.

State Magazine, published by the Department of State, reports in its July-August issue, “To demonstrate the Corps’ deadly coordination and speed, Mr Leedham played a video recorded by a Department aircraft that captured an intense night hostage rescue training exercise. The dramatic footage, shot through the surreal green tint of night optics, shows a squad rushing to a structure where hostages are being held. Within seconds, rescuers overcome the sentries and burst into the building”.

Another tactic called “Spot Stops” along roads and highways keeps terrorists and other outlaws off balance by creating “instability”. “When rumours get out about our patrols just popping up, it provides the impression we’re everywhere,” said Leedham.

Known mainly for spearheading the department’s drug eradication programme in Colombia, the Air Wing’s mission has expanded to Pakistan. “While still committed to drug addiction, the Wing now provides surveillance and a strike force committed to Pakistan’s Western border. Brig Shafiq-ur-Rehman Awan, Pakistan’s Air Wing director at the Interior Ministry, has called the programme “a great success”. He claims that his helicopter pilots are the “best trained”. He said on an earlier occasion that Pakistan’s Western border is politically a “region of extremism” and difficult to manage. “It’s not a border with checkpoints that can be sealed. It’s mountainous and the climate can be very hot or very cold.”

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