Pentagon backtracks after Gates 'admits' Blackwater operating in Pakistan

The Pentagon has gone into damage control mode after Defense Secretary Robert Gates appeared to confirm that security contractor Blackwater is operating in Pakistan.

The admission, quickly denied by Defense Department officials, has set fire to long-simmering rumors inside Pakistan about the involvement of for-profit contractors in the war against the Taliban.

Defense Department officials say Gates did not mean to suggest that Blackwater is now operating on Pakistani soil when a journalist from Pakistan's Express TV asked him about military contractors' activities.

In the interview, which took place Thursday, Gates was asked "about another issue that has come up and again ... about the phone security companies [sic] that have been operating in Iraq, in Afghanistan and now in Pakistan. Xe International, formerly known as Blackwater or Data Corp. Under what rules are they operating here in Pakistan?"

"Well, they're operating as individual companies here in Pakistan, in Afghanistan and in Iraq," Gates replied. "If they're contracting with us or with the State Department here in Pakistan, then there are very clear rules set forth by the State Department and by ourselves."

"This appears to be a contradiction of previous statements made by the Defense Department, by Blackwater, by the Pakistani government and by the US embassy in Islamabad, all of whom claimed Blackwater was not in the country," investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill wrote.

In November, Scahill reported that Blackwater is operating out of a covert US operating base in Karachi, where it "plan[s] targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, 'snatch and grabs' of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan."

In December, the UK's Guardianreported that Blackwater guards are patrolling a CIA airbase in Baluchistan province.

Gates' comments have sent Pakistan's legislature into an uproar, with at least one government official denying knowledge of Gates' remarks.

Pakistan has been rife with rumors in recent years about private security contractors operating on the country's soil, and "about purported US plots to seize Pakistan's nuclear weapons and build permanent American military bases," as the Wall Street Journalputs it.

"Mr. Gates himself may have inadvertently helped fuel a new rumor," the Journal stated.

Defense officials tried to clarify the comment Thursday night, telling reporters that Mr. Gates had been speaking about contractor oversight more generally and that the Pentagon didn't employ Xe [a.k.a. Blackwater] in Pakistan.

It was too late, however. By Friday morning, an array of Pakistani newspapers, television stations and radio programs reported that "Blackwater" had begun operating in Pakistan as well, citing Mr. Gates's comments.

Whether it was a mistake or an unintentional admission, Gates' comments are certain to complicate efforts by the US to prod Pakistan into refocusing away from its long-time rival, India, to the Taliban presence on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

To that end, the US has announced it will provide Pakistan with a dozen Shadow drones, smaller cousins of the Predator drones the US uses in air strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the New York Timesreports.

The US has also announced a new strategy for the war effort that focuses on the "re-integration" of Taliban fighters into mainstream society. The effort will be led by Afghan President Karzai. In discussing the plans Friday, Karzai "spoke about offering money and jobs to tempt Taliban fighters to lay down their arms and return to civilian life," according to Pakistan's Dawn Media Group.