CIA runs secret Afghan force to crush Taleban

WASHINGTON: The Central Intelligence Agency runs an Afghan paramilitary force that hunts down Al-Qaeda and Taleban militants in covert operations in Pakistan, a US official said Wednesday.
Confirming an account in a new book by famed reporter Bob Woodward, the US official said that the Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams were highly effective but did not offer details.

“This is one of the best Afghan fighting forces and it’s made major contributions to stability and security,” said the official, who preferred anonymity. The 3,000-strong paramilitary army of Afghan soldiers was created and bankrolled by the CIA, designed as an “elite” unit to pursue “highly sensitive covert operations into Pakistan” in the fight against Al-Qaeda and Taleban sanctuaries, according to The Washington Post, which revealed details of the new book. Woodward reported that the units conducted covert operations inside neighboring Pakistan’s lawless border areas as part of a campaign against Al-Qaeda and Taleban havens.

Pakistan’s government said it was unaware of any such force and the military flatly denied its existence.

“We are not aware of any such force as had been mentioned or reported by the Washington Post,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said.

“But our policy is very clear, we will never allow any foreign boots on our soil... so I can tell you that there is no foreign troops taking part in counter-terrorism operations inside Pakistan.” “We do not allow any foreign troops or militia to operate on our side of the border,” Pakistani army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said. “There are no reports of any such incident, and, should it happen in future, they will be fired upon by our troops.”

The 3,000-strong Afghan teams are used for surveillance and long-range reconnaissance missions and some have trained at CIA facilities in the United States. The force has operated in Kabul and some of Afghanistan’s most violence-wracked provinces including Kandahar, Khost, Paktia and Paktika, according to a security professional familiar with the program.

Unlike regular Afghan army commandos, the CIA-run Afghan paramilitary units mostly work independently from CIA paramilitary or special operations forces but will occasionally combine forces for an operation. Despite operating independently, the units coordinate their operations with NATO, the security professional said.

The paramilitaries earn generous salaries compared to Afghans employed by the army or police.

The CIA-run Afghan paramilitary in Kandahar were compensated on an elite pay scale, according to human rights investigators. The average paramilitary in the force could earn $340 a month while a regiment head could take home as much as $1,000. In Uruzgan, the US pays members $300 to $320 per month.

In comparison, a freshly recruited Afghan solider in troubled Helmand province earns about $240 a month. And Afghan policemen make an average starting salary of only about $140 per month. Even the Taleban reportedly pays its footsoldiers about $250 to $300 a month.

Jonathan Horowitz, a human rights expert working with the Open Society Institute, said: “These paramilitary groups operate in such a cloak of secrecy that accountability for their abuses is nearly impossible for most Afghans. These forces don’t fall under an Afghan military chain of command, and if a civilian is killed or maimed, the US can say it was not the fault of the US Horowitz added that Afghan civilians have regularly accused these paramilitary groups of physical abuse and theft of property during night raids, conduct that he said taints Afghan views of the US forces who arm, train and pay them.