. US Special Forces teams are currently stationed in five South Asian countries including Sri Lanka as part of the counter-terrorism co-operation with these nations, a top Pentagon commander has disclosed.
These teams have been deployed by US Pacific Command as part of its effort to enhance their counter-terrorism capabilities, in particular in the maritime domain, Admiral Robert Willard, the PACOM Commander said yesterday.
We have currently special forces assist teams - Pacific assist teams is the term - laid down in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, as well as India, Willard told lawmakers at a Congressional hearing in response to a question on co-operation with India on counter-terrorism issues. We are working very closely with India with regard to their counter-terrorism capabilities and in particular on the maritime domain but also government to government, not necessarily DOD (Department of Defence) but other agencies assisting them in terms of their internal counter-terror and counterinsurgency challenges, Willard said. Willard said, Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (Let) is a very dangerous organisation. |