Daylonious:
Now that is something I dont know if I can second. As a Television journalist who has been in this region since the war began I have felt that the Pakistani armed forces are more effective in doing certain types of jobs than Americans. Particularly good in dirty jobs. American forces are definitely more expensively trained and much better equipped. The problem is that they are over pampered according to third world living standards! American troops in this region get three cooked meals a day served cafeteria style. Pakistani units move on dry rations. They move for months just munching on dry stuff like dates or peanuts etc. The reason is that most of these local soldiers come from Pakistani rural areas where their diet at home is not THAT different. Dry ration is not something they would consider torture. Plus American troops get sick if they drink tap water as tap water in many places here is muddy. Local population has been drinking that since the day they were born. It has no effect on them.
Similarly, Pakistani Special Forces speak the same language as locals here so they can take off their uniforms put on regular clothes and mingle with local population for intelligence gathering. American Special Forces would get spotted right away if they tried that. Americans have to rely on electronic means like satellite and monitoring phone conversations and then getting these translated into English which is very very expensive and slow.
The other factor is psychological make up. American soldier is a trained FOR war. Pakistani soldier is the product OF war! People who was born into a region torn apart by religious extremism, violent insurgency, bloody ethnic feuds etc. What a professional soldier from abroad would call HELL, they call HOME! Thats why local military units have a higher success rate in catching terrorists than technologically superior foreign troops. Though I dont have the exact figures but of all the people detained in Guantanamo, bulk majority were captured by Pakistani SSG units.
