ISLAMABAD, Oct 12: A visiting US defence delegation on Tuesday informed Pakistani officials that arms and equipment requested by the country for its three armed forces were in the pipeline, an official statement said.
The delegation led by Deputy Director of the Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) Millies told senior officials of the Defence Ministry and Defence Production some of the equipment had already been given while the remaining would be delivered "at the appropriate time".
The US officials also promised to "favourably consider" Pakistan's request of training requirements of its armed forces, according to a statement by the Defence Ministry issued after the meeting in the garrison town of Rawalpindi.
The Sub Group level talks were held to discuss avenues of defence cooperation between the two countries for the Defence Consultative Group (DCG) meeting scheduled for December this year.
A key war-on-terror ally of the United States, Pakistan had to face a host of American sanctions before and after it carried out its nuclear tests in May, 1998.
These sanctions were eventually lifted in return for Pakistan's critical intelligence and logistic support to the US-led military coalition that overthrew the radical Taliban regime in Afghanistan in late 2001, accused of sheltering Osma bin Laden, chief suspect of Sept 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States.
The United States has also written off about 1.7 billion of the total three billion dollars Pakistan owed to it. A three-billion dollar economic and military assistance package for Pakistan also awaits the US Congressional approval. The Pakistani shopping list include F-16, P-C Orion surveillance naval aircraft and six C-130 military transport aircraft. -dpa
