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KARACHI The United States has quietly rushed millions of dollars worth of military equipment to Pakistani forces in recent months, the NYTimes quoted American and Pakistani officials as saying.
Prior to the Swat operation in the spring, Pakistan's army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani asked that the US quickly deliver 10 Russian-built Mi-17s. According to the US newspaper, both US President Barack Obama and US army chief Admiral Mike Mullen personally intervened to fulfil his request; four copters were leased in June and the remaining provided to Pakistan under various authorities.
The report (http//www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/world/asia/29weapons.html?ref=world) says that a whole range of other weapons, hardware and sensors have been provided to the Pakistan army. These include spare parts for Cobra helicopter gunships, night vision goggles, body armour and eavesdropping equipment.
Presently, American military surveillance drones are supporting the Waziristan operation by feeding video images and target information to Pakistani ground commanders. The Pentagon has also quietly provided the Pakistani Air Force with high-resolution, infrared sensors for its F-16 warplanes, which Pakistan is using to target its attacks on Taliban strongholds in South Waziristan.
'We've put military assistance to Pakistan on a wartime footing, as up to now it has been in a peacetime process,' the paper quoted Lt. Col. Mark Wright, a Pentagon spokesman, as saying. 'We are doing everything within our power to assist Pakistan in improving its counterinsurgency capabilities.'
The number of American Special Forces soldiers and support personnel who are training and advising Pakistani Army and paramilitary troops has doubled in the past eight months, to 150.
Despite the expedited assistance, Pakistani officials are still upset with the pace of disbursement of all kinds of aid. Pakistani officials are particularly unhappy about the US's refusal to share some sought-after high-tech military equipment, like Apache helicopters and Predator drones.
Pakistani authorities are also reluctant to publicize the aid they have been receiving for the ongoing operations, the report notes. It points to army spokesman Athar Abbas's statement that the South Waziristan action was a purely Pakistani enterprise, unaided by the US. 'Let us finish the job on our own,' he told reporters,
However, the report indicates that the US govt does not have a problem with the Pakistani authorities downplaying its involvement. An American adviser in Pakistan, who was granted anonymity to discuss internal United States policy, said, 'US current military assistance either demonstrates US resolve and offsets anti-Americanism, or is deliberately underplayed to boost Pakistani military and political credibility, and the latter meets our policy objectives more closely.' — NYTimes (www.nytimes.com)
