subject: We May Need To Conduct Military Operations In Pakistan [print this page] The US efforts in the war on terror are not being helped by Taliban members who operate out of Pakistan. They will do their dirt in Afghanistan and fade back across the border where they do not expect our forces to pursue. Taliban members have been conducting a propaganda war in thet country which makes it difficult for their government to ask for help or justify allowing US forces to enter the country. We have openly conducted many drone strikes into Pakistan and probably some clandestine operations also. If the Pakistani government can't get the terrorists operating from within its borders under control we may be forced to step up the action to another level.
Conducting a military strike into Pakistan is not something that we want to do but we will if we have to. Our troops would be at an immediate disadvantage is such an operation. The biggest problem is that we do not have the personnel neccessary to cover enough of the land mass to make a lasting difference. In addition the local resistance would be extremely difficult to overcome. On top of that is the land which is extremely mountanous and difficult to cross. This would make the going very slow for attacking forces and would give the Taliban fighters there a natural advantage.
Resupply of small Special Operations types of units would not be very difficult because they don't require the vast tonnage required by regular ground forces. Their supplies could be dropped in by helicopter if necessary. Resupplying large units would be a different story altogether. The road system would have to be used and it is not very sophisticated. This would make it extremely difficult to get the supplies to larger units.
Our forces probably would not have the help of the civilian population. We have learned that we need civilian sources of intelligence in order to conduct successful military operations in countries where terrorists operate. We probably would not have this in Pakistan. The population there would see our forces as hostile invaders. The Taliban in that country has had a lot of time to condition the minds of its citizens so we would have to first overcome the innate hostiltiy of the civilian population, meanwhile the Taliban would be able to operate almost with impunity. We have seen how intelligence has been critical to our operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, with human intelligence being the most reliable form.
The Pakistani government has been giving some limited intelligence and support but their dilema is that they have to live with the Taliban after all is said and done. They can't afford to seem to be too friendly with us because the Taliban are the religous leaders in the country. The Taliban being the religous leaders wield an enormous amount of power. They could very easily make things extremely difficult for the government. The Pakistani government has to also bear up under pressure from the surrounding countries. If they come off as pro US they will suffer the consequences of agitating their neighbors aainst them.
Any type of US action in Pakistan could not be an action designed to take and hold territory. It would by necessity have to be limited to a strike to punish Taliban leaders. In order to strike at those leaders good intelligence is needed. We have been using drones with some good effects but human intelligence would give us better effects. Any combat in the area would have to be primarily accomplished by drone and missile strikes. Special Operations troops and light infantry would also play a large role. Such an operation would not be winnable in the sense of wiping out the Taliban. Any such operation would have to be very limited in scope and might serve to degrade the operations of local Taliban, but they would quickly disperse to another area and pick up where they left off. The reason why such an operation is being considered is because there is strong evidence which shows that elements of the Taliban in the Waziristan area are behind several failed attacks on US soil. This puts the US in the predicament of having to make a response which may not be effective at all. Military Ring Express
