WASHINGTON, Oct 3: The Bush administration has reportedly approved the sale of 60 attack helicopters to Pakistan, diplomatic sources told Dawn.

The helicopters, that will include Cobra gunships, are meant to help Pakistan fight the remaining Taliban and Al Qaeda activists hiding in the tribal area, the sources said.

Pakistan hopes that the helicopters will be delivered by December and differences over the US request for Pakistani troops for Iraq will not delay their delivery, they added.

Both President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali have strongly raised the issue of the arms imbalance with India in their talks with US leaders.

After his talks with Mr Jamali in Washington on Thursday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell told a group of Pakistani journalists that the United States will play its role in maintaining “the balance of power in South Asia.”

The prime minister is believed to have told Mr Powell that India’s recent military purchases from Israel and other sources have grossly disturbed the balance of power in the region.

The Jamali-Powell talks focused mainly on the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan where US troops are facing a sudden resurgence in terrorist attacks, diplomatic sources said.

Official sources in Washington say that besides Iraq, the situation on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border is also becoming a headache for Pakistan. A US delegation, headed by Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, is arriving in Islamabad on Saturday for talks on both the issues.