The Pentagon released, on Monday, that a recommendation has been forwarded by Robert Gates, US Defense Secretary, to send additional troops to tribal regions along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to reinforce NATO forces.
The Washington Post Online service reported that the Chief of the Pentagon will soon consult with President George W. Bush on the proposal to send 3,200 Marines to the South Asian nation where stability is threatened by a surge in violence over the past two years.
The decision to send additional US troops to border areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan could be seen as the complete opposite of NATO's, whose member nations have been unable to respond to US calls for additional forces; or as a "unilateral military action" proposed and launched by the U.S side alone, which Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf would consider an "invasion."
The United States has about 27,000 troops in Afghanistan—the most since the 2001 invasion which led to the fall of the Taliban regime. About half of US troops serve in a 40,000-strong NATO-led force; while the rest conduct missions ranging from counterterrorism to training Afghan troops.
For months, the Pentagon has been pressing NATO allies to provide more troops for Afghanistan; and last month it shifted away from pushing them to make politically difficult decisions to provide combat troops.
A senior Pentagon official remarked that the US was expected to proceed with the deployment of some 3,000 Marines to "make up for the NATO shortfall."
"It is anticipated that the secretary will soon approve a deployment of additional US forces to Afghanistan to fulfill unmet NATO requirements," he added.
The tribal areas, covering 27,000 square kilometers, lie in between Pakistan and Afghanistan; and have long been regarded as a natural asylum for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants. Allegedly Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his top deputy are hiding out somewhere in the tribal region straddling the Pakistan-Afghan border.
On top of that, Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazia Bhutto was assassinated last December; the bloody terrorist attacks in Pakistan's Punjab province occurred on January 10; and Taliban militants carried out 140 suicide attacks in 2007 alone, in attempt to overthrow the pro-Western government, oust pro-Western political figures, and expel foreign forces.
All this put together makes the vast tribal region on the Pakistan-Afghan border a 'thorn in the flesh' by US-led Western allies. The US side, in particular, is seeking to make an imminent decision to erase the long years of pain.
However, if Bush were to endorse the proposal to launch unilateral military action, after returning from the Middle East on Wednesday, it would leave the border regions in South and East Afghanistan more vulnerable to extremist violence.
The region is home to various tribes and ethnic groups – Pashtun being the largest – to which many Afghan militants, including the Taliban, are affiliated. Like a number of other Afghan ethnic groups, the Pashtun extend beyond Afghanistan into Pakistan, where they still constitute a major ethnic group of about 14 million.
Additionally, this area has long been plagued with clan feuds and regional precariousness, which could escalate from an intrusion of outside forces.
Pakistan's President Musharraf sternly objected to any intervention attempt, saying that a military invasion recommended by the Pentagon would threaten Pakistan's sovereignty and exacerbate the situation in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region.
Some observers also consider it a provocative move to send additional troops. They believe it could fuel more violent retaliations and fan the flame of hatred towards the US. And in the long run, it could hamper and derail regional progress, which would otherwise press forward on the right track.
By People's Daily Online
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