Paintballs and bird calls: Army double down on unorthodox tactics against Taliban

As many as 3,000 soldiers arrive each month for training at a 2,500-acre facility in K-P

KHARIAN: The army is employing some rather interesting methods at a training site tucked in a forest in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where the military says 65 per cent of troops fighting Operation Zarb-e-Azb are being trained.

Earlier this month, the military took The Washington Post on a rare public tour of the 2,500-acre facility, which opened in 2009. According to the Post article, as many as 3,000 soldiers arrive each month for two dozen training scenarios, some of which are staged in a set made to look like a typical village in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

“This is a complete architectural rendition, from the interior to the exterior to the foxholes, of what you would see in FATA,” Maj. Nauman Mushtaq said as he led a reporter through a muddy tunnel that started in one house and ended in another.

While training at this site does include live-fire exercises, the army is also relying heavily on paintballs for its simulated war games. One section of the sprawling National Counterterrorism Center Pabbi is dedicated to these paintball fights. Soldiers armed with paintball guns face off in a field about the size of a volleyball court, exchanging at least 2,000 paintballs during one training session.

A soldier shot above the chest with a paintball is considered killed, while three or more shots below the waist lead to ejection from the drill.

According to Maj. Khalid Waleed, the training techniques are designed to make troops more comfortable with “close-quarters battles close to the ground.”

Another part of the base houses a mock two-story cave with a window on the second floor which allows troops to look into the cave. A computerised camera system and mannequins are used to fire paintballs at soldiers inside.

A demonstration involved three soldiers throwing flash bangs before storming a cave, battling their computer-controlled opponent while taking cover behind rocks. Two soldiers escaped without any injury, but a third was left rubbing off paint off his neck.

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In another exercise, soldiers are taught who to kill first when shooting from a moving truck. The instruction is fairly simple; the assailant closest to the vehicle is shot at first since they could be a suicide bomber. In another noteworthy exercise, troops are taught how to rescue someone while still using both hands to fire their weapons with shoulders being used to carry the person being rescued.

A Pakistani soldier carries ammunition used in training at the National Counter Terrorism Centre Pabbi in Punjab province. PHOTO COURTESY: THE WASHINGTON POST

Another interesting unconventional tactic being used by the army at the training base involves bird calls. In the exercise, a soldier hides in a tree in what looks like a large nest. The soldier then uses one of many bird calls that he has been taught when he spots a potential target. Then, under the tree, soldiers concealed in a small pit covered with sticks and grass climb out and begin shooting.

“The terrorists don’t suspect us to use these tactics, so when we do, they are really badly trapped,” said Brig Abrar Ali, commander of the center.

He went on to add that fighting against militancy in Pakistan’s northern areas demanded an evolution of battle tactics. “In our experience, this is not a battle with large forces. We have to learn how to fight in very small teams,” Ali added.

Lt Col Kashif Amin, who leads a cavalry regiment of 44 tanks based in Lahore, brought 400 soldiers for training at Pabi since tanks are of little operational use in rugged North Waziristan.

“Especially for the younger soldiers, this is more challenging because they were trained for armored operations but will now be doing infantry,” Amin said.

Still, Ali concedes that the military is battling an enemy who will probably always have some advantage when fighting in Pakistan’s tribal areas. He notes that many militants use the same stealth tactics that they or their fathers perfected as mujahideen fighters who resisted the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

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“The only specialized training they need is how to make [bombs],” Ali said.

Pakistani commanders and troops say the training conducted at the National Counterterrorism Center Pabbi is what is really allowing them to gain the upper hand against militants. Since the army launched a major operation in June, soldiers have cleared most of North Waziristan. They are now trying to drive the extremists from their final hiding places in the Tirah Valley, in adjoining Khyber Agency, commanders say.

“These Taliban are dug in the caves, so you can’t do it by aerial bombardment,” said Javed Ashraf Qazi, a retired general and former head of Pakistan’s intelligence service. “You have to go in there and physically dislodge them.”

The article originally appeared in The Washington Post