Paramilitary: November 5, 2004

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The war on terror has had to go to a lot of unexpected places to get the job done. In Pakistan, for example, it was noted that the police and paramilitary organizations lacked a lot of the skills and equipment taken for granted by American police investigators. The FBI ran into this when agents went to Pakistan to help with the terrorist hunt after September 11, 2001. To remedy the situation, the United States has, for the past two years, been training members of the Police Service of Pakistan, the Frontier Corps, Anti-Narcotics Force, Customs and Federal Investigation Agency. Equipment and technical assistance has been provided as well. Some 1,200 Pakistani personnel have been trained so far. This has speeded up investigations, partly because more Pakistanis are familiar with American techniques, and partly because many Pakistani police organizations can use the same techniques, and investigative technologies, that are available to U.S. investigators.