Sorry DevSix, but I tend to agree with jeltz25 here - there is no substitute for developing your own human intelligence - and in 99.9 percent of situations like this we run the risk of having our informers turn on us.
If getting Pakis, Pashtuns and Uzbeks to rat on their own was the way to go then we would have captured all of Al Qaeda by now and they would not be able to use it as a safe haven. But here we are six years later and still nothing.... meanwhile individuals like John Walker Lindh, Adam Gadhan, and others are able to infiltrate the innermost circles of Al Qaeda.
Sorry but there is no substitute for getting your own hands dirty and the US has by nature avoided doing what is necessary under the circumstances to achieve victory.
Sorry, but I'm a firm believer that outsourced intelligence is as good as no intelligence.
I never suggested this wasn't the case - Having your own direct agents/sources for HUMINT is obviously the optimal choice - It only shortens one's OODA loop - (Which is just another reason to respect and love SecDef Rummy....Who allowed JSOC to go around the risk adverse OGA Intel apparatus...and gather their own).
I am all for DA type Intel Ops by our guys (snatch and grabs) out of these border regions (we should be doing more)....However, if you think within six years we are going to build a working team of Pashtun agents, put them into the Indian country of the Pak border regions and have them survive........That is foolishness, plain and simple (not within 6 years).
Again, there are a sizable number of brave souls....who have died headless up in these border regions....(The side they were on is clear - The notion that all get a "star" if KIA.....isn't reality.