WASHINGTON: The top US special operations officer, who oversaw the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, is seeking new authority to move his forces faster and outside of normal Pentagon deployment channels, The New York Times reported on Monday.
The newspaper said Admiral William McRaven, who leads the Special Operations Command, is pushing for a larger role for his elite units who have traditionally operated in the dark corners of US foreign policy.
The plan would give him more autonomy to position his forces and their war-fighting equipment where intelligence and global events indicate they are most needed, the report said.
It would also allow the special operations forces to expand their presence in regions where they have not operated in large numbers for the past decade, especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America, the paper noted.
The paper said that similar plans in the past had foundered because of opposition from regional commanders and the State Department.
The military’s regional combatant commanders have feared a decrease of their authority, and some ambassadors in crisis zones have voiced concerns that commandos may carry out missions that are perceived to tread on a host country’s sovereignty, the paper said.
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News or nonsense ?
Only a man with foolish confidence can think like that - the merky Abbotabad episode had killed Bin Laden along with the truth - what we have seen of Special Forces that they have been killing their fellows in friendly fires, kill childern of their allies, abuse prisioners in jails, like sports killing people, rape host countries women and when frustration does not end commit suicide.
These Special Operation Forces is the bone of contention in Afghanistan. In a region where the diplomats and other civilian missions and as well as the officially deployed troops are trying their best to 'win hearts and minds' of the local population through establishing credible relationships- the Special Forces thunder in and create a mess by their night raids based on false information of their unreliable sources. Even the NATO forces perceive them as a pain in the neck due to their all in all position.
I wish he and his forces acted during the DeP rally in Karachi