WASHINGTON — The Pakistani government has agreed to allow the U.S. a greater role in training its military, part of an accord that will also send counterinsurgency equipment to help Islamabad step up its offensive against militants.
Washington has been watching with growing alarm as Taliban forces have made military gains in Pakistan and U.S. officials have stepped up pressure on Islamabad to do more.
Although the Pakistani military launched an air attack against the Taliban on Tuesday, senior U.S. Defense officials remain deeply worried about Islamabad's ability to beat back the militant advance.
Long shaped by the threat of war with India, the Pakistani military is armed mostly with heavy weaponry and lacks some of the equipment useful in fighting an insurgency. And after months of fighting, the forces that have been hunting militants are exhausted.
"You have a Pakistani military that is battle weary," a senior U.S. Defense official said. "Their equipment is aged and not effective for the fight they are in."
The official, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the U.S.-Pakistani relationship.
On his trip last week to Pakistan, Adm. Michael G. Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, continued to press the government to take the militant force more seriously. Pakistani military chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani outlined for Mullen a series of steps he was planning, including the offensive in the Buner area.
Mullen emerged from his meetings with Kayani and other Pakistani officials deeply worried, telling aides that the situation had grown far worse than even two weeks before, when he had visited with special U.S. envoy Richard C. Holbrooke. "I have never seen him come back more concerned, deeply bothered by what he saw," a military officer said.
The Pakistani operation included using heavy artillery, helicopters and fighter jets to strike Taliban positions in the mountains beyond Islamabad. But U.S. officials fear that those tactics will be ineffective or could backfire by inflicting civilian casualties. The U.S. military would like to see Pakistan's military move in light infantry or commando units.
Over the long term, the U.S. military believes training the Pakistanis for that kind of combat is critical for countering the Taliban threat.
But so far Pakistan has only allowed in about 70 U.S. special operations trainers, an effort the American military has long been anxious to expand.
