Obama mission: Billions to Pakistan, billions from India

[trident2010]

Obama mission: Billions to Pakistan, billions from India




WASHINGTON: The Obama administration is lining up at least $ 2 billion in fresh, new military aid to Pakistan even as it is lobbying for billions of dollars in defense sales to India ahead of the US President's visit to the region early November.

Two weeks before the India trip however, the US is all set to shower yet another round of military largesse on its dubious ally, ostensibly to help it fight extremists, who by Washington's own accounts are fostered, protected, and promoted by Pakistan.

The aid package is set to be announced during the US-Pakistan "strategic dialogue" – the second this year – starting Wednesday in Washington DC.

The arms bonanza comes just weeks after India's defense minister AK Antony conveyed New Delhi's reservations to Washington about US arms to Pakistan invariably being lined up against India, something even the Obama administration has on occasions recognized.

It also comes amid stunning disclosures pointing to direct ISI (and therefore the Pakistani state's) involvement in the 26/11 terrorist attacks on Mumbai, which sites President Obama is expected to visit on November 6. Six Americans were among 172 people killed in the carnage.

On top of this, a top Nato official said this week that Osama bin Laden was living in "relative comfort" in Pakistan, protected by locals and some members of the country's intelligence agencies, following up similar charges earlier by secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

Despite these developments, the Obama administration evidently places its trust in Pakistan's credentials in the war on terror, and has determined that Islamabad needs to be militarily strengthened to fight extremism.

It is getting around the Indian protest that it is needlessly arming an adventurous and unrepentant ally that uses terrorism as a state policy by terming the military aid a "security assistance package."

American officials who have briefed the media on the subject ahead of the "strategic dialogue" say the package, totaling as much as $2 billion over five years, is aimed at helping Pakistan fight extremists on its border with Afghanistan.

The package will be in the form of financial aid under the American Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program, which in turn will help Pakistan purchase weapons and defense equipment like helicopter gunships and communication equipment produced in the United States.

It is aimed at addressing Pakistan's insistence it does not have the capability to go after terrorists, and needs more support from the United States, according to the New York Times and CNN, which both reported the development on Monday.

The latest US largesse for Pakistan, which is separate from the five-year, $ 7.5 billion aid under the Kerry-Lugar-Berman bill, comes even as Washington is lobbying fiercely for greater Indian defense purchases worth billions of dollars as New Delhi seeks to shore up its military.

India has finalized nearly $ 10 billion worth of military purchases from the US in recent months, including a deal in 2009 for eight Boeing P-81 maritime patrol aircraft worth $2.1 billion and the sale this year of 10 Boeing C-17 Globemaster III Aircrafts worth $5.8 billion, the largest defense deal with India in US history.

An even bigger piece of action is in the pipeline – a purchase worth more than $ 10 billion for 126 Multi-Role Combat Aircraft that New Delhi is seeking, and for which US companies Boeing and Lockheed Martin are in the race.

While India's will be paying hard cash for all these transactions, Pakistan, which was already broke before it was overrun by floods of biblical proportions and reduced to begging, will essentially be getting freebie military hardware from the US in the name of fighting terrorism.

The US aid comes despite criticism from Washington that Pakistan's wealthy, including its political leadership, is ducking from paying taxes, and US tax-payers are having to pick up the tab for Pakistan.

In fact, ahead of the US-Pakistan strategic dialogue, Pakistan has made no move to reform its tax collection as demanded by secretary of state Hillary Clinton and top European Union officials recently.

Instead, the Pakistani delegation is coming to Washington with a laundry list of demands, including a nuclear deal that will bring it on par with India, greater US role in resolving the Kashmir issue, and taking into account Pakistan's interests in Afghanistan.

The Pakistanis are even pressing for a stopover by President Obama in Islamabad during his November visit to India, according to some reports.

The Pakistani delegation for the "strategic dialogue" this week will be formally led by the country's foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and will have cabinet ministers of defense and finance, among others.

But the real power and influence behind the Pakistani push for greater US aid will be the country's army chief, Pervez Ashfaq Kayani, who is part of the team, notwithstanding Washington's reservations about the military's continuing influence in Islamabad.



Obama mission: Billions to Pakistan, billions from India - The Times of India

 

[Nahraf]

The same old Indian temper tantrums or song and dance on cue when Pakistan acquires defensive weapons/ technologies. In the meantime, India is shopping around the world for state of the art weapons targeted at Pakistan.

 

[BATMAN]

I think it is not fair to complain, considering the benefits US extended to Indians following September 11.
Anyhow, both states are hand in glove and it will take time for both to bridge cultural seas.
Starting from Henry Kissenger to Clinton... its quite a accommodation by american administration.
Lets see how far Indians have adopted themselves from Indra's to Sonia's.

 

[Capt.Popeye]

Actually it is not a bad thing, if India can pump in a few billion dollars in to the US economy, then the US is able to give a few billion dollars to Pakistan.
It is a global economy now.

 

[JanjaWeed]

i take this as a compliment. it's a good thing that US is looking towards india to earn it's living. what they do with the money they earn from india is their business. atleast india's relationship with US is on equal terms. that's what counts!!

 

[BATMAN]

Indeed... US ought to pay its outstanding bills and prepare to welcome billions of Indian pumps.

 

[StingRoy]

It is an interesting irony to bring up this link between the deals, but this is today's global economy. In some way or the other for all the transactions in this world you can find traces of your own tax payer money involved, albeit in a small percentage.

I read another article somewhere else, "US is paying China to take away its jobs", this one looks very similar.

 

[Lankan Ranger]

U.S. is taking advantage of India and Pakistan's enemity. U.S. is selling weapons to India stating that Pakistan is a threat. On the other hand it is handing out more money and weapons to Pakistan, so that it continues to be a threat to India. And Indian buys more weapons from U.S. so that they have money flowing in to their country during this period of screwed up economy.

In other words, India is indirectly funding USA's 'military aid to Pakistan'.

 

[Hawkish]

No complaints here. India is the second largest importer of US weapons, next only to our dear friend king Saud.

 

[somebozo]

The only side affect is Obama tenture will be increased tissue paper bills for the white house and he has to listen to lot of indian rona dhona mujra!

 

[razgriz19]

U.S. Preps $2B in Gear For Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - At last week's U.S-Pakistan strategic dialogue, officials discussed American military aid, counterinsurgency strategy and flood relief for Pakistan. It was, however, the mention of a $2 billion security assistance package that caught analysts' attention.

30 Bell 412 utility helicopters were confirmed as part of the $2 billion security assistance package. Here, a Pakistan Army Bell 412 lands to drop off flood survivors in Bssera village near Muzaffargarh on August 11, 2010. (AFP) The package would be spread over five years, and includes "helicopters, weapons systems and equipment to intercept communications, Pakistan Army officials said, confirming initial reports by the APP and CNN.


Army spokesman Brig. Azmat Ali said negotiations were underway for "transport and attack" helicopters, but declined to provide further details. He said the package was "still in the stages of finalization. It will take some time."

U.S. defense officials at the embassy here declined to comment.

South Asia analyst Brian Cloughley said the only thing he was sure of "is that the assistance package will have conditions attached - although these may well be kept under the counter, and not publicized."

Helicopters

The Pakistani army has long been short of utility helicopters and gunships. The need for attack helicopters is particularly keen, but Pakistan's attempts to get additional ones from the U.S. have not succeeded. Past efforts to obtain AH-64 Apaches have been rebuffed.

Defense officials at the U.S. embassy have discounted the possibility of acquiring AH-1Z Vipers to replace Pakistan's well-worn AH-1F Cobras until the initial order for the U.S. Marine Corps is fulfilled in 2015. The U.S. State Department's "Pakistan Assistance Strategy Report," published last December, raised the possibility of some Vipers being diverted to Pakistan.

Ali confirmed a recent order for 30 Bell 412 utility helicopters. The deal is in addition to and separate from the security package currently under negotiation.

Some doubt that the Bell 412 is suitable for Pakistani operations, which often take place at high altitudes and in warm climates.

Cloughley noted the Canadian military's problems in Afghanistan with its Canadian-built variant, the CH-146 Griffon, and the political debate over its suitability. But he concluded that the Bell 412 was a "good enough aircraft, but it has its limitations, especially in hot and dry" environments, and said, "On balance, the PA [Pakistan Army] could do worse."

The Army has made no public criticism of the Bell 412.

EW Gear

The military's need to disrupt communications was first publicly recognized in the initial campaigns against the Taliban in the Swat valley, where the inability to block the Taliban's FM radio propaganda broadcasts hindered operations.

That such equipment may be included in the U.S. aid package came as a surprise, however.

"It is my understanding that there is already a quantity of U.S.-supplied electronic equipment in service, especially in the field of [improvised explosive device] detection and neutralization," Cloughley said. "Intercept technology has also been provided, and I had thought that jammers were already in use."

The announcement of the package comes during a difficult time in U.S.-Pakistani relations, in the wake of a NATO crossborder incursion that resulted in the deaths of three Pakistani soldiers.

Washington wants to equip the Pakistan Army to eradicate Taliban hideouts in North Waziristan. However, the Army is still involved in flood relief operations, something the dialogue also addressed.

To clear the Taliban out of North Waziristan, the Pakistan Army would need from the U.S. "surplus/retired artillery guns and also smart artillery munitions," plus night-vision goggles "for infantry and helicopter pilots," said Usman Shabbir of the Pakistan Military Consortium think tank.

The Bell 412, which has night-vision technology, has been used extensively by units such as the Special Operations Task Force (SOTF) during nocturnal operations. The SOTF was raised with American help to hunt for al-Qaida and Taliban elements along the Afghan-Pakistan border.

 

[PAKFA]

Like WW 2 made USA super power because all Europe destroyed by fighting each other. Now it is time for Asia especially south Asia.

 

[NWO]

Like WW 2 made USA super power because all Europe destroyed by fighting each other. Now it is time for Asia especially south Asia.

In this age? I don't think so.

 

[Kyusuibu Honbu]

In this age? I don't think so.

Some people overestimate Asian unity.

 

[MYSTIC]

In this age? I don't think so.

They are already doing it.