WASHINGTON, Jan 31: United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld praised Pakistan on Tuesday for “doing a great many things to be helpful to the US military and government”.

He indicated that Washington’s ties with Islamabad was long-lasting and went beyond military-to-military cooperation.

The defence secretary was replying to a question at a Pentagon briefing about the promises the US had made to countries neighbouring Afghanistan —— Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan —— where American troops were stationed.

Mr Rumsfeld said the US had been using some of the Pakistani airports and its airspace. “We have requested and they have responded positively to supplying their troops along that border (with Afghanistan). And there is no question, but that they have just been enormously helpful.”

He clarified that no quid pro quo was involved, but pointed out that the Congress had passed legislation which authorized a defraying expenditure of $100 million, “the larger portion of which is meant for Pakistan and some smaller portion for another country. It is only a beginning because we do have some financial obligations to them”.

The defence secretary said, characterizing such instances as a quid pro quo would be “a misunderstanding of the relationship. If we go into Pakistan, for example, and they give us fuel, I don’t think of that as a quid pro quo. We pay them for the fuel, or we ought to. In this case we have not as yet because we didn’t have a cross-servicing agreement until more recently. But there wasn’t —— in none of these instances that I know of did anyone make the basis of their support for us or the war on terror some sort of financial quid pro quo as you (the questioner) are suggesting”.