Pak used US aid to fight India: Report

[Schultz]

NEW DELHI: The Pentagon has confirmed one of South Asia's
worst kept secrets - that Pakistan has used billions of dollars of US aid to buy a
mind-boggling array of conventional American weaponary to use against India.

The aid was meant for Pakistan to fight the war on terror. India has repeatedly pointed out that much of the military hardware on Pakistan's shopping list was not suited to anti-terror operations. Now, Pentagon reports have revealed that even the money poured into Islamabad's coffers by the Bush administration after 9/11 specifically to fight al Qaida and the Taliban, was used to develop offensive capabilities against India.

The Pentagon reports detail the brazen diversion of funds given to Pakistan between 2002 and 2009 and the Pervez Musharraf government -- often described by George W Bush as America's "strong" ally in the "war against terror" - to acquire arms ranging from anti-tank missiles to F 16s. The arsenal was meant to blunt India's edge in conventional weaponry.

It is thought significant that the US Congress is currently debating another aid bill for Pakistan with a substantial military component, even as lawmakers express concern about Islamabad arming itself against India. The debate may have gained fresh traction, but Pakistan , which has shrewdly exploited the dubious distinction of being the epicentre of worldterrorism, may have its way yet again.

The Pakistani trait of diverting arms given to it by US goes back to the 1950s when it was a member of Cento (Baghdad Pact), which was an essentially Cold War grouping. The field armour it recieved from the US was used in the 1965 war against India.Six years later, in a letter to the Nixon administration at a time India-US ties were at their lowest ebb, Indira Gandhi noted that "It was a sad chapter in our sub-continent when US began supply of arms to Pakistan in 1954 and continued to do so till 1965. The arms have been used against us, as indeed we feared they would be."

This time around, almost four decades later, Pakistan seems to have done one better by using American money to buy American arms. Pentagon reports say arms were bought from America in the years under review with some of Pakistan's own money, some US foreign military financing(FMF), some from what is called excess defense articles and some from a fund known as coalition support funds (CSF) given to Pakistan for fighting terrorists.

Pakistan's big-ticket conventional military buys include 18 new F-16 C/D Block 50/52 combat aircraft (valued at $1.43 billion; none delivered yet), F-16 armaments including 500 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles; 1,450 2,000-pound bombs; 500 JDAM tail kits for gravity bombs and 1,600 enhanced paveway laser-guided kits, also used for gravity bombs ($629 million); 100 Harpoon anti-ship missiles ($298 million); 500 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles ($95 million) and six Phalanx close-in naval guns ($80 million).

Pentagon concluded $4.89 billion worth foreign military sales (FMS) agreements ith Pakistan between 2002 and 2008, although the bulk includes theF-16 sales. The US gave $1.9 billion foreign military financing with what it calls a "base programme" of $300 million a year from 2005-2009. It is this that has been used to buy US military equipment.


What else did Pakistan buy with this money?


Eight P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and their refurbishment (valued at $474 million); about 5,250 TOW anti-armor missiles ($186 million; 2,007 delivered); more than 5,600 military radio sets ($163 million); six AN/TPS-77 surveillance radars ($100 million); six C-130E transport aircraft and their refurbishment ($76 million); and 20 AH-1F Cobra attack helicopters granted under EDA, then refurbished ($48 million, 12 delivered, 8 pending refurbishment for an additional $65 million).

Pakistan bought some other stuff with a mixture of its own money and FMF funds. These include up to 60 Mid-Life Update kits for F-16A/B combat aircraft (valued at $891 million, with $477 million of this in FMF, Pakistan currently plans to purchase 35 such kits); and 115 M-109 self-propelled howitzers ($87 million, with $53 million in FMF).

Pakistan also has been granted US defense supplies as Excess Defense Articles (EDA). While India has been celebrating the arrival of its Phalcon Awacs systems, Pakistan got the Pentagon to transfer three P3-B aircraft as EDA grants which would be modified to house the E-2C-Hawkeye airborne early warning systems worth $855 million. Last week the Pakistan air force chief announced that these "eyes in the sky" would be delivered "very soon".

Pakistan also got 14 F-16A/B combat aircraft and 39 T-37 military trainer jets. To fight terror, Pakistan has been given 26 Bell 412 utility helicopters, along with related parts and maintenance, valued at $235 million. Finally, under 1206 and Frontier Corps Authorities, the US has provided Pakistan with helicopter spare parts, night vision goggles, radios, body armor, helmets, first aid kits, litters, and other individual soldier equipment.

Pakistan is not inadequately equipped or trained to fight terror. If it wants, Pakistan can fight terror several times over. But it is seen to be preparing for conflict with India.

Pak used US aid to fight India: Report - US - World - The Times of India

 

[masijames]

United state of America is providing conventional weopens and fighter jets or the attack helicopters to Pakistan security forces so they can fight against terrorist
so who are the terrorist "indian military'
well according to every one who is living in pakistan they believe that india is biggest threat to pakistan. the reason they believe that because in the past 50 years india had done many terrorist activities to state of pakistan and to the people of pakistan
first terrorist act in 1947
second terrorist act 1965
third terrorist act in 1971
the americans are not that stupid they know why they providing military weapons to pakistan because they want stable military on both side of the countries
so india will not do another terrorist act to pakistan in future
Pakistan has used billions of dollars of US aid to buy a
mind-boggling array of conventional American weaponary to use against India
yes indians if you have problem go talk to US ...the indians are crying because they know that newly F-16 block 50-52 can shot down any IAF Mig or Sukhoi fighter jets

 

[wtf]

I never understood the anti-US bias.
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Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

EDITORIAL: Taliban menace and US support

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has asked the visiting US envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Mr Richard Holbrooke, to convey his request to Washington for the writing-off of a $1.35 billion Pakistani debt to the United States. Mr Holbrooke’s response was that “the US would look into the matter”. Mr Gilani welcomed the $300 million additional American assistance to the refugees from Malakand-Swat and asked that the annual aid package of $1.5 billion be expedited.

From Mr Holbrooke’s remark that “measures were being taken to accelerate military supplies to Pakistan” one can infer that the American support to the Pakistan Army at this critical juncture is an important factor in Pak-US relations. Mr Gilani pointedly hoped that the “major European and Muslim countries would follow the US lead and come up with timely assistance”.

Pakistan is in dire straits with nearly three million refugees stranded after the military operation in Malakand Division. Most of them are being looked after on the basis of Pakhtunwali, the tribal code of hospitality, as hot-weather refugee camps cope unsteadily with people displaced from their cold-weather homes. Pakistan’s manufacturing economy is half-shut and maintaining macro-economic stability is difficult unless injections of assistance from outside keep coming.

The IMF stand-by arrangement and the Friends of Pakistan group of countries have come forth for Pakistan because of American persuasion. The share of the Muslim countries, especially the oil-rich Arab states, has been less than generous in this hour of need. The PPP government, confronted with fast declining economic indicators, had first approached its Arab friends for concessions on Pakistan’s oil payments; but with no notable success. And the European Union is not famous for shelling out bilateral money out of human sympathy.

How is one to interpret all this? After President Obama’s Cairo University speech, most Pakistani comment was based on lack of trust and a fundamentally negative understanding of the United States. There were voices that condemned Pakistan for aligning itself with “the enemy of the Muslims”. Worse, some looked back on the past half-century of bilateral relations and saw only “American perfidy” in it. That is why the current reliance of Pakistan on US money will be seen by some political leaders as something that Pakistan “will live to regret”.

Yet, now as never before, the national consensus in Pakistan is that the Taliban have to be fought rather than “talked to”. This consensus has not prematurely sprung up from nowhere. People have seen the savagery with which the Taliban have treated innocent Pakistanis and continue to see such acts of sacrilege as blowing up people in the mosques through suicide-bombers shouting “Allah-u Akbar”. The Senate in Islamabad surprised everyone on Friday when a majority of the senators lashed out at the Taliban in front of the once-dominant pro-Taliban members.

What should we make of the still current TV and newspaper myth that the Taliban are indeed bad but they are an ally of the US and India? How should we understand the undying rhetoric that the US is interested only in setting India up as a regional hegemon with Pakistan meekly behaving as its satellite? Not long ago, the same sources who spread these “analyses” around loved the Taliban because they were fighting the “American invasion”.

The US remains “realistic” when it says it is helping Pakistan in pursuit of its own national interest. Why shouldn’t Pakistan follow the same realistic principle if it finds it impossible to overcome the current xenophobic environment? Some “experts” on TV channels keep insisting that Pakistan has enough “hidden wealth” that it can tap by squeezing its rich classes. Others put “honour” above economics and ask for martyrdom in the war against America.

But the truth is that after the dust of passions settles down the national economy gets the upper hand. To avoid getting the last fatal judgement pronounced by the economy, Pakistan must mend its fences in the region where it is located and join any power in the world that is willing to help it defeat the Taliban. A close look at the actual strength of these enemies of the Pakistani state tells us that Pakistan will not be able to fight them alone. *