Pentagon commander says US special forces in India

[alp227]

Source: BBC

US special forces are present in five South Asian countries, including India, a top Pentagon commander has revealed.

US Pacific Commander Admiral Robert Willard said the teams were deployed to help India with their counter-terrorism co-operation.

The US and India were working together to contain Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based militant group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, he said.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17229395

[enlightenment]

1. Is there anywhere we're not engaged in combat?

I'm starting to wonder.

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. The woods behind my house are looking pretty calm at the moment....

[Lurks Often]

3. One of the roles of Special Forces, especially

US Army Special Forces, is to serve as trainers. Our presence in India could merely be as advisors/trainers for the Indian military.

[FarCenter]

4. Why would the Indian military need US Special Forces trainers?

It would seem that they have had quite a lot of experience in combatting terrorism.

[KeepItReal]

7. Did you watch the coverage of the Mumbai attacks?

The local forces had a really hard time. They even lost a counter-terror chief in the process.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemant_Karkare

[FarCenter]

8. He was like a local SWAT team leader. Killed in a surprise attack

Yes I did watch the coverage.

Responding to a surprise terrorist attack is a lot harder than implementing a carefully planned and well rehearsed attack.

Plus, the Indians responding were some mix of local police, local "SWAT", and later Military anti-terrorist units. Of the latter, two NSG members were killed; one at the Taj Mahal and one at Nariman House.

[fujiyama]

13. I think a big problem with what happened in Mumbai

was the lack of a SWAT team readily available to respond to such an attack. I believe they had to actually get the team in from Delhi. This added to a lot of confusion and chaos - and ultimately lost time and likely lost lives. I thought I remember reading that the local police was so ill equipped, many of them wore sandals, and of course were unarmed, or were inadequately armed (the terrorists had AKs and grenades, among other weapons).

Now of course the scale of the attack was unprecedented in its coordination and considering how densely populated that city is it made the logistics of response all the more difficult. I think the targets were on different parts of the city and if anyone knows how bad traffic is in India, especially in a city like Mumbai - it's an absolute freakin' nightmare.

My hope is the country learned valuable lessons on preparedness - especially in funding their local police departments and adding much needed SWAT teams with the necessary armor and weaponry. I seriously doubt it though. The police in India are paid next to nothing and like most institutions is incredibly corrupt. And local ministers likely eat away at any central (federal) funding they receive. Bribery isn't just rampant - it's endemic - and basically a way of life. Ask any Indian and they'll say the same thing. Corruption is either eating away or has completely consumed just about every institution and it makes the country's ability to combat terrorism all the more difficult.

[Posteritatis]

17. Allied countries share notes all the time. (nt)

[Lurks Often]

19. US Special Forces, of all branches,

often work with friendly countries. Also, the British SAS and SBS do the same and I'm sure the other NATO countries, Australia and New Zealand do the same. They exchange tips, techniques and information.

[enlightenment]

9. I understand that,

what concerned me was this statement in the article:

"The US and India were working together to contain Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based militant group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, he said."

That does not sound like a training exercise to me.

[fujiyama]

12. Lashkar has strong links to Al Qaeda

This could prove to be beneficial for both sides on counter-terrorism and intelligence sharing.

[Fumesucker]

16. Indian Snake Eaters are among the best in the world..

They routinely "win" against the special forces of other nations during joint exercises.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Forces_of_India

[Red Mountain]

5. I would guess it's about the cooperation

Cooperation requires practice.

Pakistan is a bit of a problem for both of us.

I've always wished we were more closely allied with India rather than Pakistan.

Biggest Democracy and all that. Logical partner.

[JDPriestly]

14. Nixon and Kissinger engineered our special relationship with Pakistan. Fools they were.

The United States supported Pakistan both politically and materially. President Richard Nixon and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger feared Soviet expansion into South and Southeast Asia.[75] Pakistan was a close ally of the People's Republic of China, with whom Nixon had been negotiating a rapprochement and where he intended to visit in February 1972. Nixon feared that an Indian invasion of West Pakistan would mean total Soviet domination of the region, and that it would seriously undermine the global position of the United States and the regional position of America's new tacit ally, China. In order to demonstrate to China the bona fides of the United States as an ally, Nixon sent military supplies to Pakistan, routing them through Jordan and Iran,[76] while also encouraging China to increase its arms supplies to Pakistan. The Nixon administration also ignored reports it received of the "genocidal" activities of the Pakistani Army in East Pakistan, most notably the Blood telegram. This prompted widespread criticism and condemnation both by Congress and in the international press.[38][77][78]

Then-US ambassador to the United Nations George H.W. Bush—later 41st President of the United States—introduced a resolution in the UN Security Council calling for a cease-fire and the withdrawal of armed forces by India and Pakistan. It was vetoed by the Soviet Union. The following days witnessed a great pressure on the Soviets from the Nixon-Kissinger duo to get India to withdraw, but to no avail.[79]

It has been documented that President Nixon requested Iran and Jordan to send their F-86, F-104 and F-5 fighter jets in aid of Pakistan.[80]

When Pakistan's defeat in the eastern sector seemed certain, Nixon deployed a carrier battle group led by the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise into the Bay of Bengal. The Enterprise and its escort ships arrived on station on 11 December 1971. According to a Russian documentary, the United Kingdom deployed a carrier battle group led by the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle to the Bay,[81] although this is unlikely as the Eagle was decommissioned at Portsmouth, England in January 1972.

For more detail and context:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1971

[jakeXT]

6. A suspect more for the bombing blamed on Iran. NT

[Vehl]

10. He must be talking about the US special forces training in India

Both countries cross train their special forces in each others training institutions.

Even though this has been mostly kept under wraps/low key; India and America have heavily stepped up joint training exercises in the past decade.


American Special forces train in counter insurgency and Jungle warfare in India's CIJW (Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare) school in the jungles of Mizoram, a state near the Burmese border. US Army Rangers, Green Berets and other select units send their men here for training.

[IMG][/IMG]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-insurgency_and_Jungle_Warfare_School

The Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School (CIJW) in Vairengte, Mizoram, India is a training and research establishment of the Indian Army specializing in unconventional warfare, especially counter-insurgency and guerrilla warfare. CIJW is one of the premier counter-insurgency training institutions in the world

pictures from such exercises are generally not released to the public. However here are some found in the public Domain.

[IMG][/IMG][IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/img]

India to train US 'Green Berets' in jungle warfare

GUWAHATI, India (AFP) — A contingent of US Special Forces, or Green Berets, will team up with Indian soldiers to train in jungle warfare, officials said on Saturday.

The 30-member US team will train in the army-run Counter-Insurgency Jungle Warfare School from August 2 in the rebellion-torn northeastern state of Mizoram, they said.

"The training schedule involves methodologies to tackle terrorism and low intensity conflicts," an Indian commander said on condition he was not named.

An equal number of Indian military personnel will team up with the visiting Green Berets at the school where some 250 US soldiers had been trained in the past four years.

"The US soldiers would share their experiences in tackling urban terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan, while the Indians would pass on their tactics used in Kashmir and other parts of the northeast," he added.

more here
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j0Ir_CYAZjsUeOoOQrrXCEff2wNA

^^ this was dated 2008, from what I hear joint training tempo has been heavily ratcheted up in the past few years.



some more pics

[IMG][/IMG] [IMG][/IMG]


[IMG][/IMG]

An Indian-U.S. Special Forces team races to board an Indian Air Force Mi-17 helicopter for combined heliborne operations

more pictures here
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?21973-Counter-Insurgency-Training-excercise-CIJWS

[rppper]

11. i'm glad to see this...

we need a solid friend in that region....we should have been establishing channels with india decades ago...this isn't a bad thing at all....

[JDPriestly]

15. True.

Why should we choose one country over another in that area?

Seems to me we should encourage peace among all the countries in that region. I don't think we have always done that.

[BlueToTheBone]

18. Oh No! n/t

[sarcasmo]

20. I need to watch the movie, World Police one more time.