US opens intelligence training centre for Af-Pak

Washington: The US Army is opening an intelligence unit that will train military officials, covert agents and analysts exclusively on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Center for Afghanistan Pakistan Excellence, reported The Washington Times, is being established by the US Central Command chief Gen David H Petraeus and would be headed by one of his most trusted analysts, retired Colonel Derek Harvey.

The decision to set up such a specialised training centre for military officials, covert agents and analysts, apparently comes in the wake of the realisation by the US Administration that they would have to be in the region for a long term and that the United States needs to have a battery of officials who specialise on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The new centre would focus on integrating all sources of information to develop strategic products for both war fighters and decision-makers in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Harvey told the Times.

"We have tended to rely too much on intelligence sources and not integrating fully what is coming from provincial reconstruction teams, civil-affairs officers, commanders and operators on the ground that are interacting with the population and who understand the population and can actually communicate what is going on in the streets," Harvey said.

"If you only rely on the intelligence reporting, you can get a skewed picture of the situation," he was quoted as saying by the paper.

Bureau Report