New York, September 23
The CIA is running a 3,000-strong covert army to hunt down key leaders of Taliban and Al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with US officials saying that the force is proving “highly effective”.

The heavily armed irregular force manned entirely by Afghan personnel operates in small units called counter-terrorism Pursuit Teams is modelled after the US Special Forces, the officials said confirming the disclosure made in new book ‘Obama’s wars’ by journalist Bob Woodward.

The brigade-sized force, officials said, is “one of the best Afghan fighting force that has made major contribution to stability and security”.

The stunning disclosures in the book which is making waves for laying bare the policy divisions and the personality clashes among the Obama advisors on the Afghan policy may complicate relations between Washington and Islamabad.

The book said the force trained and bankrolled by the CIA and had been operating for nearly eight years to hunt Al-Qaida and Taliban commanders.

The clandestine Afghan force reportedly drawn out from private militias and armies of former warlords has been trained in CIA’s facilities in the US.

The force has been designed as an elite unit to pursue “highly sensitive covert operations into Pakistan”, Washington Post reported.

New York Times said, “Firing missiles from unmanned drones patrolling over Pakistan’s turbulent northwest tribal region at a rate that has outstripped the Bush administration’s record is bad enough and now to have brigade size paramilitary units operating inside Pakistan marks a significant expansion of the covert war that the Obama administration has waged there.” These forces, the paper said, conducted clandestine raids into Pakistan as part of stepped-up campaign against Al-Qaida and Afghan Taliban havens there.

“The covert army captures and kills Taliban fighters and seeks support in Tribal areas,” the NYT reported and quoted Pentagon officials as saying that these Afghan units were closely working with American Green Berets to go after Taiban fighters. — PTI