The New York Times has revealed the U.S. is proposing to start arming Pakistani tribes in an effort to fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. If adopted, the proposal would likely expand the presence of U.S. military troops in Pakistan and directly finance a tribal paramilitary force. The proposal is modeled in part on a similar effort by American forces in Anbar province in Iraq. An estimated $350 million would be needed to train and arm the paramilitary force known as the Frontier Corps. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s military leader General Pervez Musharraf is still refusing to lift martial law. On Saturday Musharraf met for two hours with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte. Negroponte urged emergency rule be lifted, but he also praised Musharraf for taking some steps toward democracy.

John Negroponte: “We welcome President Musharraf’s announcement that elections will take place in January, a commitment he repeated to me yesterday, in categorical terms. He also repeated his commitment to retire from his army post before commencing his second presidential term, and we urge him to do so as soon as possible.”

While John Negroponte was in Pakistan, Musharraf ordered two Dubai-based Pakistani news channels, Geo TV and ARY One World to be shut down. We’ll have more on Pakistan after headlines.