Yeh sub kis kay liyay?

Our former general and present president Al Haj Wal Umrah Aplenty Al Sharif Pervez Musharraf was a SSG commando once upon a time. SO he may have a soft corner for this. t

WASHINGTON — U.S. military advisers are helping the Pakistanis double the size of their elite commando force in an ongoing effort to blunt the rising threat of terrorist groups and anti-government militants operating in the country's unruly tribal areas, a senior Pentagon official said Wednesday.

The American military presence is fewer than 100 personnel, said Mike Vickers, assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, and is focused on what he called "targeted training." That includes assisting Pakistan's Special Service Group and teaching specialized fighting techniques, such as helicopter assaults.

"It's been ongoing for a while," Vickers said during a meeting with reporters. "They're expanding their capability substantially — they're essentially doubling their force. So we're helping them with that expansion, and trying to improve their capabilities at the same time. There's also some aviation training. It's been ongoing for several years."

That means the United States won't conduct military strikes on its own inside Pakistan unless President Pervez Musharraf's government requests such direct support.

"We have to be careful conducting operations in a sovereign country, particularly one that's a friend of ours and one that has given us a lot of support," Dell Dailey, the State Department's counterterrorism chief, said last month. "The blowback would be pretty serious."