New York: America's CIA is running a 3,000-strong covert army to hunt down key leaders of the Taliban and al-Qaeda in not only Afghanistan but across the border in Pakistan
Journalist Bob Woodward's book 'Obama's wars' has laid bare the policy divisions and the personality clashes among the Obama advisers on the Afghan policy may complicate relations between Washington and Islamabad.
This heavily-armed irregular force manned entirely by Afghan personnel operates in small units called Counter-terrorism Pursuit Teams, the New York Times reported on Thursday, quoting extracts from a new book 'Obama's wars' by journalist Bob Woodward.
The stunning disclosures in the book which is making waves for laying bare the policy divisions and the personality clashes among the Obama advisers on the Afghan policy may complicate relations between Washington and Islamabad, the paper said.
The logo of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency is shown in the lobby of the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. REUTERS
"Firing missiles from unmanned drones patrolling over Pakistan's turbulent northwest tribal region at a rate that has outstripped the Bush administration's record is bad enough and now to have brigade size paramilitary units operating inside Pakistan marks a significant expansion of the covert war that the Obama administration has waged there," the book claims.
Age Progressed photograph of Osama Bin Laden released by the U.S . State Department. REUTERS
These forces, the paper said, conducted clandestine raids into Pakistan as part of stepped-up campaign against al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban havens there. The CIA directs and funds the force, which is being billed as the best Afghan fighting force which has made major contributions to stability and security, the book claims.
An Afghan de-miner holds a flag promoting peace as he patrols with another next to the venue that hold a function to mark International Peace Day in Kabul, Afghanistan. AP
"The covert army captures and kills Taliban fighters and seeks support in Tribal areas," the NYT reported and quoted Pentagon officials as saying that these Afghan units were closely working with American Green Berets to go after Taiban fighters.
Bob Woodward exits his home in Washington. REUTERS
According to the Woodward's book, by the end of 2009 strategy review, the President had concluded that the task in Afghanistan could not succeed without wiping out al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban havens operating with impunity in the border tribal areas of Pakistan.
An Afghan man walks his dog in the old part of Kabul city, Afghanistan. AP
The book says that Obama has remarked, "We need to make clear to the people that the cancer is in Pakistan", so the CIA had turned into its classic old strategy of setting up of a lethal proxy unit.
The book says that such "kill teams" were also operating within Afghanistan to target groups like Haqqani network, closely linked to Taliban and al-Qaeda. The members of these hot pursuit units have been probably recruited from the private militias of warlords.
Source: Agencies
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