CrybabyNEWS
Washington, July 26: The Americans have put a price of $305 million on Pakistan for withdrawing its objections to the smooth passage of the India-specific safeguards agreement by the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on August 1.
US President George W. Bush will gently nudge Pakistans Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani at the White House on Monday not to be intransigent at the IAEA on the Indo-US nuclear deal.
But after feeding him lunch, Bush will send Gilani to Vice-President Dick Cheney, the administrations bouncer, who will tell the visiting Prime Minister unequivocally that the US does not appreciate Islamabad standing in the way of the operationalisation of the nuclear deal with India at the IAEA.
Bush will use kid gloves in dealing with Gilani, but Cheney, who has established a reputation for his tough ways and getting things done, will be as plain and rough with Gilani as he needs to be, according to sources which are familiar with the deliberations of a new co-ordinating committee which has been created within the Bush administration to fast track the nuclear deal.
By the time Gilani gets to see Cheney in the afternoon, the White House would have conveyed Gilanis reaction to Bushs kid glove treatment in the morning to the Vice-Presidents office. Cheney will then know how much his screws on the Pakistan Prime Minister have to be tightened.
In the run up to Gilanis visit, the Bush administration has decided to transfer about $230 million that it has already allotted for counter-terrorism projects in Pakistan to its militarys pet project of upgrading its F-16 aircraft that are not used against terrorists but can target India in the event of a war.
The US state departments acting deputy spokesperson, Gonzalo Gallegos, justified the transfer on the ground that the Pakistani government came to us, asked us if we could assist them, and we decided that this would be a good option for them. It would help to relieve the government, allow them to use that amount of funds for different projects of their own while providing an update that had already been that we had already approved.
These funds represent about two-thirds of the entire money that Pakistan will receive this year in US military financing for equipment and training.
Gallegos said: Basically, what we did was we shifted funds from one set of anti-terrorism projects, one set of airframes, to a different set.
But that is unlikely to sit well with the Democratic presidential aspirant Barack Obama, who will meet Gilani on Tuesday. Obama last fortnight outlined his skeleton plans for Pakistan if he is elected President and those plans focus on social development and democracy instead of beefing up Islamabads offensive capabilities against India.
In addition, anticipating the UPA governments forward movement on the nuclear deal, the US recently offered Advanced Integrated Defensive Electronic Warfare Suites worth $75 million for enhancing the capabilities of the existing F-16 fleet of the Pakistan Air Force.
The new total of $305 million for Pakistani F-16s, the militarys prestige toys, is being described in private conversations on Capitol Hill as a part of the Bush administrations bribe for the army general headquarters in Rawalpindi to toe the White House timetable on the nuclear deal with India.
In addition, less than four weeks ago, the US delivered four new F-16B aircraft to the Pakistan Air Force at Mushaf Air Base. The Pentagon pointed out in a press release that the F-16s represent a symbol of national pride for Pakistan.
The US ambassador to India, David Mulford, who attended a meeting of the administrations newly created co-ordination committee for the deal on Monday, significantly told reporters afterwards that Pakistans objections in Vienna represent an issue that has to be addressed and that we will talk to Pakistan.
He added, ominously, that Washington hopes that they will see things in the right light and be co-operative.