US troops embedded with Pak forces: WikiLeaks

Islamabad, May 21 (PTI) Contrary to Pakistani
military's persistent assertion that it will not allow foreign
troops to operate within the country, US special forces were
embedded with Pakistani troops for intelligence gathering and
were also deployed on joint operations in their territory,
according to secret US diplomatic cables.
The cables released by WikiLeaks said that US special
operations forces were embedded with Pakistani troops for
intelligence gathering by the summer of 2009 and deployed with
them on joint operations in Pakistani territory by September
the same year.
The issue has gained heightened sensitivity in the
wake of the US raid against Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad.
The revelations go against the Pakistani military's
claim that it will not allow foreign troops to operate within
the country for operations to flush out the Taliban and other
militant elements.
"We have created Intelligence Fusion cells with
embedded US Special Forces with both SSG and Frontier Corps
(Bala Hisar, Peshawar) with the Rover equipment ready to
deploy," then US Ambassador Anne Patterson was quoted by Dawn
newspaper as saying in a cable to the State Department in May
2009.
"Through these embeds, we are assisting the
Pakistanis collect and coordinate existing intelligence
assets," she said.
At the time, Patterson noted that the US had "not
been given Pakistani military permission to accompany the
Pakistani forces on deployments as yet."
By September, plans for joint intelligence activities
had been expanded to include army headquarters.
"Pakistan has begun to accept intelligence,
surveillance, and reconnaissance support from the US military
for (counter-insurgency) operations," Patterson wrote.
"In addition... intelligence fusion centers" had been
established "at the headquarters of Frontier Corps and the
11th Corps and we expect at additional sites, including GHQ
and the 12th Corps in Balochistan", she said.
In April 2009, the cell at Bala Hisar assisted the
Pakistan military operation then taking place in Lower Dir
district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
"US Special Operations Command Force are assisting
the FC at the Intelligence Fusion Cell at FC Headquarters with
imagery, target packages, and operational planning," a cable
from that month said.
A number of leaked cables reveal that the US was
eager to embed American troops with Pakistanis soldiers.
"On a brighter note, there is the possibility that
operations in the northern FATA may provide additional
opportunities to embed US Special Operations Forces with FC
units to provide ISR (intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance) support and general operational guidance,"
Patterson wrote in a November 2009 cable.