Red tape complicates SF mission in Pakistan

[unhappycamper]

A Pakistani Frontier Corps soldier on patrol. A problem getting visas for U.S. personnel, including those tasked with training Pakistani soldiers, “is everything,” a U.S. special operations source said. “They can’t do their mission without the visa.”


Red tape complicates SF mission in Pakistan
By Sean D. Naylor - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Mar 15, 2010 7:03:03 EDT

An ongoing Pakistani effort to delay the issuance of visas to U.S. diplomatic and military personnel is impeding the U.S. special operations mission to train Pakistan’s Frontier Corps, according to several U.S. sources.

The difficulty obtaining visas led to some special ops troops having their deployments to Pakistan extended and others being sent back to the country early simply because their visas were still valid, U.S. sources said. For the Special Forces troops at the heart of the mission, the visa issue has become critical. “It’s huge,” said a special operations source. “It’s everything. They can’t do their mission without the visa.”

A Defense Department official closely tracking the issue acknowledged the problem. “I know they’re working through it,” the official said. “It is what it is. They’ve got the visa requests in there, and ... the Paks are very slow to approve them. ... Is it disruptive? Yeah, it is. Does it seem kind of cross purposes? I mean, why allow us in there if you’re not going to renew the visas or allow more guys in to do what you’ve asked us to do? It’s a paradox.”

However, the Defense official said, the visa hassles have to be seen in a wider context of greater Pakistani commitment and sacrifice in the fight against Islamist extremists during the last few years.

In 2006, the Defense official said, “it was a big deal” when the U.S. sent a team in to survey the Frontier Corps, a locally recruited paramilitary militia in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas. “You fast forward now to 2010, you’ve got 140,000 Pakmil troops in the tribal areas — seven divisions. They’re conducting major operations in southern Waziristan, Bajaur Agency, Swat and so forth, and we have actual American trainers on the ground in Pakistan. ... So I can’t explain why the Paks are so slow on these visas, but what I do see over the last four years is tremendous progress in terms of where we’ve come.”


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/03/army_pakistan_031510w/

[Mari333]

1. what a clusterfck of epic proportions...

it is time to get out of there for good.

[Robb]

2. This is one reason there are drone attacks.

They do not need visas.