March 03, 2008	Monday	Safar 24, 1429

NEW YORK, March 2: The US military is developing a plan to send about 100 American trainers to work with a Pakistani paramilitary force that is the vanguard in the fight against Al Qaeda and other extremist groups in Pakistan’s restive tribal areas, the New York Times said on Sunday quoting American military officials.

The newspaper said that the training proposal now under review at the Central Command headquarters in Florida, which oversees military operations in the Middle East and much of South Asia, is subject to the approval of the commander, Admiral William J. Fallon, and top Pentagon officials, including Defence Secretary Robert M. Gates.

Admiral Fallon told the Times at his headquarters last week that additional trainers would be part of “a comprehensive approach” to address Pakistan’s security needs. “They want to do as much of this as they can themselves,” he said.

Pakistani officials told the newspaper that they were aware of the Pentagon’s general offer for more trainers, but were not familiar with the details of the Central Command plan.

That document, titled “Plan for Training the Frontier Corps,” envisions a combination of Special Forces and regular army troops working with the Frontier Corps in basic marksmanship, infantry skills and counter-insurgency techniques.

Until recently, the Frontier Corps had not received American military financing because the corps technically falls under the Pakistani Interior Ministry, a non-military agency that the Pentagon ordinarily does not deal with. But American and Pakistani officials say the Frontier Corps is drawn from Pakhtun tribesmen, who know the language and culture of the tribal areas and in the long-term is the most suitable force to combat an insurgency there.