There is no plan for sending U.S. Special Forces to conduct secret operations against Al-Qaeda targets in Yemen under the supervision of the Central Intelligence Agency CIA, a spokesman for the Pentagon has said.
The reports previously published by U.S. media that Obama's administration was discussing such a plan after last week's cargo bomb plots were untrue, Bryan Whitman said.
U.S. reports said on Monday that an increasing number of military officials within Obama's administration urged to deploy U.S. counterterrorism forces in Yemen under the supervision of the CIA.
The explosive parcels, that were seized before they could reach their destinations in the U.S., emphasized the need for reconsidering all military options before the administration to fight Al-Qaeda in Yemen, which was responsible for sending the packages intercepted in London and Dubai, reports citing unidentified officials said.
Sending U.S. troops to Yemen will help the United States of America to carry out quick and more secret strikes against Al-Qaeda targets in the country, they said, citing officials as saying that the administration was also mulling over the addition of CIA drones to the Yemen-based anti-terrorism arsenal.
But Whitman said at a press conference a day later' the Pentagon did not take seriously all proposals for the contents of the reports, and there is no radical change in the way we support Yemen's efforts to root out terrorism.
The Yemeni counterterrorism efforts are applauded, and the U.S. is working closely and cooperatively with the Yemeni authorities to face all security and other challenges, he said.
You will never get information about what you call secret terror operations in Yemen, he told reporters.