WASHINGTON, Nov 19: The Pentagon has a plan to train and expand the Frontier Corps in the tribal areas to counter the growing strength of Al Qaeda and Taliban forces, spokesmen said on Monday.

Additionally, the US Special Operations Command is making separate plans for ways to increase counter-terrorism cooperation with the Pakistan’s armed forces and to boost their capabilities, they said.

Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said the plan to expand the Frontier Corps has been “in the making for months”, but was not yet under way.

“It’s been kicked around -- how to do it, where to do it, how best to do it, this and that,” he told reporters.

The planning by the Tampa, Florida-based Special Operations Command, on the other hand, has not yet been sent up the military chain of the command for approval, and consisted of concepts for enhancing counter-terrorism cooperation and capabilities in Pakistan, the officials said.

It involved “capabilities that would help pursue the type of disruptive influences that are in Pakistan, without going into specifics”, said Bryan Whitman, another Pentagon spokesman.

According to the New York Times, the plans were part of a efforts to enlist tribal leaders in the “war against terror”. It said there were at present 50 US soldiers in Pakistan, but many more would be required for executing the plan.

So far, US military assistance to the Pakistani military has been limited to air assault training, according to Whitman, who said US funding for that fell from 27 million dollars in fiscal year 2006 to 5.3 million in fiscal 2007.

The Frontier Corps, whose recruits are drawn from the tribes in Fata, has not previously received equipment or training from the US military.

“There is also a desire to help the Frontier Corps to expand and train. That is something that is being developed,” he said.—AFP