The Pak-US strategic dialogue

[ameer219]

For pakistan the problem is more severe

1. Guns available easily in local market and they are born warrior

2. Easy drug money

3. Lot of sympathizer across entire pakistan.

It is not shoulda, coulda, it is fact and happening. BTW have you not seen news of blasts in Lahore lately?

Every country has their own sets of problem, and do you think we Pakistanis like to see bomb blast in our own country. It makes our own blood boil to see this happening. Which citizen would not want to see their country prosperous.

Its easy to keep saying Pakistan is not taking enough action, asking us to do more. But can't you see how much we have done?

How much lives have we sacrificed? 35 Billion dollars lost in our economy, and it used to be the 3rd fastest growing economy?

Its easy to talk when you yourself is living in a state where terrorism do not occur on a daily basis and enjoying economic prosperity.

 

[Fighter488]

Pakistan marches into Washington ​

By Syed Saleem Shahzad

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan this week takes another step in cementing its long-term strategic partnership with the United States, with ministerial-level talks scheduled in Washington on Wednesday.

Significantly, the Pakistani side's agenda will be driven by army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kiani. President Asif Ali Zardari is not in the delegation that is technically being led by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and which includes the ministers of finance, commerce and agriculture as well as the director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha.

Kiani visited the headquarters of the US Central Command in Florida at the weekend and was due for meetings at the Pentagon with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday. Kiani will attend the talks at the State Department on Wednesday that will be headed by Qureshi and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The underlying mission of the Pakistanis is to place themselves in the driving seat of the Afghan issue by getting the US to strike a deal for an endgame that is to their liking.

Effectively, the Pakistani military has sidelined the civilian government. Former president and retired general, Pervez Musharraf (June 2001-August 2008), is on Tuesday due to launch a new political party - the All Pakistan Muslim League - but even he is not expected to be a challenge to the incumbent top brass.

Last week, for the first time, Kiani chaired a meeting of federal ministers at General Headquarters Rawalpindi. Zardari was not invited. In the past few months, Zardari has given up his powers as the chairman of the Nuclear Command Authority (handed to the prime minister) on the advice of military quarters; he has extended Pasha's term at the ISI on the recommendation of Kiani and he has agreed to give up his presidential power of being the supreme commander of the armed forces. He has also said he would give up his power to dissolve parliament.

The secretaries were gathered to finalize the agenda for the US trip. Apart from security matters, topics to be covered include the economy, agriculture, water and power and the transfer of nuclear technology to Pakistan.

The president's office was not pleased with the meeting in the garrison city of Rawalpindi and used a leading private television channel to denounce it.

The fight against militancy in both Afghanistan and Pakistan is likely to be tougher than ever this summer and a main challenge is to prop up the Pakistani leadership so that it can at least bind mass opinion behind the "war on terror". Crucial to this is winning continued US support, both in aid and loans, to bolster the flagging economy.

Musharraf emerges

A close aide of Musharraf, barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, recently registered the All Pakistan Muslim League in Pakistan and Musharraf is due to formally launch the party on Tuesday in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Although several politicians are expected to be in Dubai, the ground realities are dead against the former dictator. The incumbent military leadership considers him to be too ambitious and won't back him, while Musharraf is not popular among middle-ranking soldiers. Whether it is Baloch insurgents in the southwestern province of Balochistan or Islamic militants across the country, he is the number one target to be hit. Several assassination attempts were made against him while he was in office.

He is certainly not popular with the judiciary, having at one stage sacked it - it is now reinstated.

In short, Musharraf is viewed as a serious liability for the American war in the region.

The two leading political forces in the country - the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the opposition Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz - PML-N) - recently exposed their weaknesses.

The PML-N operated its election campaign in a by-election with the help of a banned Sunni outfit - the Sepah-e-Sahaba. Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah publicly admitted on television that since the banned outfit controlled the vote bank, its help was required to win the election.

In southern Punjab, the PPP did the same by inviting the leader of the same banned outfit to speak in its favor, and this at a meeting at which the PPP's governor, Punjab Salman Taseer, was present.

Zardari, along with his son Bilawal Zardari, who is a co-chairman of the PPP, have become reclusive because of the security situation and they prefer to host events in the presidential palace rather than venture out in public.

In this situation Kiani has plenty of room in which to maneuver, especially as Washington sees him as its only reliable player in the country. He shares with the US the conviction that only an American victory in Afghanistan against the Taliban can bring good for Pakistan.

At this point, Kiani is firmly in charge of Pakistan's destiny, and he will press his case hard in Washington.

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com

(Copyright 2010 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)


Asia Times Online :: South Asia news, business and economy from India and Pakistan

 

[i am your fear]

lets see what Pakistan gain from USA

obama is getting fail in relation with Indian and china because of his cold policy India is getting close to Russia and other country

USA has to think 2 times before any arms or nuke deal with Pakistan

 

[EagleEyes]

lets see what Pakistan gain from USA

obama is getting fail in relation with Indian and china because of his cold policy India is getting close to Russia and other country

USA has to think 2 times before any arms or nuke deal with Pakistan

Think twice? Why? U.S. has to be scared of mighty India?

U.S. means business, and acts independently unlike Russia.

 

[ZTayyab]

Don't make him Hero. If army can't fight internal insurgency how can they fight with India. BTW army is using tanks and airforce to crush its own people.

What pakistan got by getting front row seat in london conference. May be tea/biscuit before other?

looooool
And hows the fight against Moaists going? oh and 700 000 indian soldiers in Kashmir having much fun raping? etc.
I wander how the Americans are getting on in Southern Afghanistan?
Cant fight internal insurgency? wow what we have achieved in the last 18 months militaraly against millitants, Americans too well know the capabilities of the pakistan army.
If Pakistan is such a walk over for India why not launch a terror attack on your own soil and invade pakistan
I promise you that youl leave with a bloody nose.

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

Pakistan moves to influence shape of postwar Afghanistan

Two generals have made major strides to do away with the discord and mutual suspicion between Islamabad and Washington

By Jonathan Manthorpe, Vancouver SunMarch 23, 2010 1:05 AM



Meetings in Washington, D. C., this week between a Pakistani delegation led by the heads of the army and the intelligence service and top administration officials aim to map the endgame of the Afghanistan conflict and shape the allegiances of a postwar government in Kabul.

The summit is a significant victory for Pakistan's head of the army, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, and the chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate (ISI), Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, who have supplanted the authority of the weak civilian government to take control of the strategic relationship with the United States.

After several years of discord with Washington and mutual suspicion, especially America's questions over Pakistan's willingness to confront the Taliban insurgents it created, the two generals have turned the situation around in a matter of months.

Kayani and Pasha have calculated that the current surge in American deployment of forces in Afghanistan ordered by President Barack Obama is a prelude to an exit by U.S. and other allied forces, including Canadians.

Pakistan is already suspicious of the involvement and influence of its arch-enemy India with the Kabul government of President Hamid Karzai.

Islamabad -- and especially the generals -- believes India is purposefully seeking influence in Kabul so as to encircle Pakistan.

They believe who rules in Afghanistan is a matter of strategic life or death for Pakistan.

Kayani and Pasha therefore decided last year to dramatically change their policy toward the Taliban in order to win U. S. support.

Their objective was not just to win a seat at the table when the future of Afghanistan was being debated, but to exert definitive influence on the outcome of those debates.

The meetings this week in Washington will give some indication of how successful the generals have been so far.

The formal leader of the Pakistani delegation is Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the foreign minister in the semi-functional government of President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, but there is no doubt the generals, and Kayani in particular, are running the show.

To make the point that he is in charge of at least of this aspect of Pakistan's foreign policy, Kayani had all the civilian officials involved in the Washington visit come to his office for the pre-departure briefings.

On Monday Kayani met with Defence Secretary Robert Gates and the chairman of the American Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, who has invested much time and effort in developing a working relationship with the Pakistani general.

On Wednesday both Kayani and ISI chief Pasha will be front and centre when foreign minister Qureshi meets Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the formal summit.

Several actions by Pakistan have got them a place at the table.

One was to reverse the previous, much-criticized policy of making peace deals with the Taliban in the lawless tribal border regions from which insurgent attacks are launched into Afghanistan. Last year Kayani's forces made major and largely successful offensives against Taliban strongholds in Pakistan.

The Pakistan government and the military also cooled previous criticism of cross-border operations by American missile-armed drone aircraft which appear to have decapitated some Taliban and al-Qaida networks based in the tribal areas.

But what seems to have sealed Pakistan's claim to a voice in Afghanistan's future is the recent arrests of about a dozen Taliban leaders in joint actions by ISI and the Central Intelligence Agency.

Among them was the Taliban second-in-command Abdul Ghani Baradar.

Not everyone is delighted. The United Nations' former chief representative in Afghanistan, Kai Eide, complained bitterly last week that these arrests had closed down incipient talks with the Taliban aimed at including them in a peace settlement.

Others, including Eide's former deputy, say he exaggerated the status of both the talks and the Taliban involved.

But Washington has never been keen on involving hard line Taliban leaders anyway.

Indeed, Afghan President Kharzai may have done himself no good on Monday by ostentatiously meeting one of Washington's most wanted Taliban warlords, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, of Hezb-I-Islami.

By demonstrating its ability to detain and control the Taliban leadership in Pakistan, the Islamabad government has also shown its capacity to ensure only its proxy Taliban are part of the settlement in Kabul.


Pakistan movesto influence shape of postwar Afghanistan

 

[fatman17]

^ u guys are missing the point - the GoP 'insisted' on the inclusion of Gen. Kiyani in the strategic dialouge because the US Admn 'routinely' includes the top-guns from the Pentagon in such meetings - preliminary meetings where there is mil-to-mil discussions, state deptt-to-foreign minister discussions have already taken place and the 'big' mtg on the 24th or the main session will be led by FM Qureshi/Secty-of-State Hillary clinton, where at the end of the day, they will spell-out the 'agreements' and 'disagreements' during a joint press conference.

i think the media is putting a un-necessary 'twist' to the presence of the army chief. yes, i agree the army is a very strong institution and it cannot be ignored but in terms of the 'protocol' of the dialouge, the chief is just a 'member' of the entourage.

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

Army Chief Driving Pakistan’s Agenda for Talks
By JANE PERLEZ
Published: March 21, 2010

Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has met with cabinet officials at the military's headquarters.
​

KARACHI, Pakistan — In a sign of the mounting power of the army over the civilian government in Pakistan, the head of the military, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, will be the dominant Pakistani participant in important meetings in Washington this week.
At home, much has been made of how General Kayani has driven the agenda for the talks. They have been billed as cabinet-level meetings, with the foreign minister as the nominal head of the Pakistani delegation. But it has been the general who has been calling the civilian heads of major government departments, including finance and foreign affairs, to his army headquarters to discuss final details, an unusual move in a democratic system.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has been taking a public role in trying to set the tone, insisting that the United States needs to do more for Pakistan, as “we have already done too much.” And it was at his request that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton agreed this fall to reopen talks between the countries at the ministerial level.

The talks are expected to help define the relationship between the United States and Pakistan as the war against the Taliban reaches its endgame phase in Afghanistan. It is in that context that General Kayani’s role in organizing the agenda has raised alarm here in Pakistan, a country with a long history of military juntas.

The leading financial newspaper, The Business Recorder, suggested in an editorial that the civilian government of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani should act more forcefully and “shun creating an environment conducive to military intervention.”

The editorial added, “The government needs to consolidate civilian rule instead of handing over its responsibilities, like coordination between different departments, to the military.”

“General Kayani is in the driver’s seat,” said Rifaat Hussain, a professor of international relations at Islamabad University. “It is unprecedented that an army chief of staff preside over a meeting of federal secretaries.”

General Kayani visited the headquarters of the United States Central Command in Tampa, Fla., over the weekend, and will attend meetings at the Pentagon with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Monday. He is also to attend the opening ceremony of the talks between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Qureshi at the State Department on Wednesday, a spokesman at the American Embassy in Islamabad said.

The most pressing concerns in the talks, according to officials on both sides, will be trying to establish confidence after several years of a corrosive relationship between allies, which only in the past few months has started to gain some positive momentum.

But the complexity of the main topics at hand — the eventual American pullout from Afghanistan, and Pakistan’s concerns about India — is expected to make for a tough round of talks.

On the positive side for Pakistan, the Obama administration has been rethinking its policies toward the country, said Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pakistani ambassador to the United States.

“There is a realization that some of its assumptions over the past year were not correct: that Pakistan’s security paradigm could be changed, that its military could be pressured,” Ms. Lodhi said.

Meanwhile, concerned about efforts by the Afghan government to engage in talks with Taliban rebels, who have important bases and allies on Pakistani soil, the Pakistani government will offer itself as a mediator in any such negotiations, Professor Hussain said.

He said that the message would be, “If you want to talk to bring the Afghan Taliban into the mainstream, you should talk to us.”

Tensions with Afghanistan have been raised by some of Pakistan’s recent operations against the Taliban, most notably the recent capture in Pakistan of a senior Afghan Taliban leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. The former head of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan, Kai Eide, said Friday that the arrest had jeopardized back-channel negotiations with Mr. Baradar’s faction of the Taliban.

But the spokesman for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, Abdul Basit, said Saturday that Mr. Baradar’s arrest had nothing to do with reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan.

India’s growing role in Afghanistan was also high on Pakistan’s agenda. The spokesman for the Pakistani military, Gen. Athar Abbas, said Pakistan would be “conveying very clearly” its displeasure with India’s offer to help train the Afghan Army at the behest of American and NATO forces. Pakistan has made a counteroffer to train the Afghans, an offer that Pakistan knows is unlikely to be accepted but that it made to pressure Washington to stop the Indian proposal, Pakistani analysts said.

General Kayani arrives in Washington after what the Pakistani military considers a stellar nine months in fighting the Pakistani Taliban, first in the region of Swat and most recently in South Waziristan.

The militants, according to the Pakistanis, have been weakened in their bases in the tribal areas, but at a high cost. According to Pakistani Army figures, 2,377 soldiers were killed in the two campaigns. About 1 in 10 of those killed were officers, a very high rate, Professor Hussain said.

With those sacrifices and the heavy toll on army equipment in mind, Pakistan is expecting quicker reimbursement from the United States of its expenses in fighting the militants, General Abbas said.

Pakistan has complained that the United States has unfairly held up payments of $1.2 billion for 2009 under an agreement to help finance the fight against insurgents. For its part, Washington says its auditors need to satisfy Congress that the Pakistani military has properly spent the money owed.


Army Chief Driving Pakistan?s Agenda for Talks - NYTimes.com

 

[ambidex]

USA's stone hinge door enclosing treasures behind will open with Pakistan's 56 page song ''Khulja Sim Sim''?

What Pakistani spin doctors and Army chief be able to get from USA is not going to be revealed that soon. Its time for India to act promptly and utilize this would be deal in its favour.

''The optimist sees opportunity in every danger; the pessimist sees danger in every opportunity''.

Lets USA decide what long term strategic benefits it may and international community be able to quench.
Lets India pursue these deals in detail and makes it another acid test for Obama to favour Pakistan like Bush did for India.

New Delhi/ Washington:

Pakistan has asked America to play a direct role in reviving talks with India and give it a nuclear deal similar to the one it awarded New Delhi.

CNN-IBN learns the demands were listed in a 56-page document handed over to US officials in Washington. The document hints for the first time at aligning Pakistani policy with that of the US. Among other demands in the document, Pakistan wants greater cooperation with US intelligence agencies

It wants access to advanced US military hardware, including drone technology, and recognition of Pakistan's nuclear weapons status

The Pentagon has confirmed receiving the document, but sources tell CNN-IBN indicate that US is unlikely to agree to push India for talks with Pakistan. A nuclear deal for Pakistan is also unlikely.

The sources say the US maybe prepared to transfer some surveillance drones to Pakistan but it would also want expansion of the US counter-terrorism role in that country.

IANS reports US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Monday met Pakistani Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani at the Pentagon "to discuss the continuing conflict with the Taliban in Afghanistan and the border regions of Pakistan," as the defence department put it in a photo caption.

No other details were released of the meeting joined by only chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen and Under Secretary of Defence for Policy Michele Flournoy.

But before the meeting with Kayani, Gates told reporters the Obama administration is looking to establish a long-term security relationship with Islamabad and help it in dealing with security challenges faced by both countries.

"I would say that what we are interested in is looking at the long term in the relationship between the United States and Pakistan, how we can strengthen our relationship and how we can help Pakistan in dealing with the security challenges that face them but also face us and NATO as well," he said.

Kayani is visiting America at the special invitation of US Central Command head, General David Petraeus to participate in a Pakistan-US strategic dialogue scheduled for March 24.

A high-level Pakistani delegation is also in Washington. The delegation includes Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar, advisor to the prime minister on finance Hafeez Sheikh, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir, Defence Secretary Athar Ali

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

i think the media is putting a un-necessary 'twist' to the presence of the army chief. yes, i agree the army is a very strong institution and it cannot be ignored but in terms of the 'protocol' of the dialouge, the chief is just a 'member' of the entourage.

yup the army leadership in noway willing to do something adventurous especially during such critical time ..!

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

U.S. Sees Hope in Pakistan Requests for Help


In Document, Islamabad Seeks Military and Civil Aid from Washington; Perceived as Exchange for Crackdown on Taliban


By MATTHEW ROSENBERG And PETER SPIEGEL

Pakistan sent a 56-page document to the U.S. ahead of strategic talks scheduled for Wednesday, seeking expanded military and economic aid in what some American officials believe is an implicit offer to crack down in return on the Afghan Taliban.

The previously undisclosed document includes requests ranging from U.S. help to alleviate Pakistan's chronic water and power shortages to pleas for surveillance aircraft and support in developing the country's civilian nuclear program.
U.S. officials say the document and the talks surrounding it could help redefine one of America's thorniest foreign-policy relationships, if it leads to a serious Pakistani clampdown on the Taliban.

The Taliban uses Pakistan, a U.S. ally, as its rear base in its fight against American and allied forces in neighboring Afghanistan, and has often relied on clandestine support from elements of Pakistan's national security establishment. But in the past few months, Pakistan has rounded up several senior leaders of the Afghan Taliban on its soil, and last year it began a series of offensives against the Pakistan offshoot of the Afghan movement.

U.S. officials are keen to see those moves broadened as a key to shifting the momentum of the Afghan war. "Right now, we're looking at something that could deliver a big part of our success in Afghanistan," said a senior U.S. military official, speaking of the document and talks.

The document outlines a range of aid Pakistan is seeking from the U.S., say American and Pakistani officials who have seen it or been briefed on its contents. A high-level meeting between senior Pakistani and U.S. officials in Washington on Wednesday aims to stitch together their fraying alliance.

Many of Pakistan's requests build on longstanding demands for more U.S. assistance. But officials on both sides say that by detailing them in a single comprehensive document, Islamabad is trying to signal its willingness to align its interests with those of Washington, its vision for a partnership—and its price.

Among the requests is greater cooperation between its spy agency and U.S. intelligence outfits, more helicopter gunships and other military hardware needed to battle its own Taliban insurgency, and improved surveillance technology, such as pilotless drone aircraft.

Pakistan also wants a civilian nuclear energy cooperation deal with the U.S., and a role in any future peace talks between the Western-backed Afghan government and the Taliban.

Many U.S. officials remain wary of such deals with Pakistan. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S., Pakistan has received more than $17.5 billion in U.S. aid, the majority earmarked for the military and security, while insisting it was doing all it could to combat the Taliban and its Islamist allies.

U.S. officials have complained that Pakistan's intelligence services continued to offer clandestine support for the Taliban, which it has long viewed as a proxy it could use to secure its influence in Afghanistan and keep archrival India out after an eventual U.S. withdrawal.

"Everything with the Pakistanis is two steps forward and one step back," said a senior U.S. military official involved in talks with the Pakistanis. "Anybody who expects straight linear progress out of a strategic dialogue between these two nations is really kind of naïve. What it will be is a step forward and then we'll see where they go with it."

Pakistan's fears of being outflanked by India, which has forged close ties to the Afghan government, are reflected in the document's indirect language about regional security issues, Pakistani officials say. The document raises concerns about India's effort to modernize its military, in part through buying U.S. equipment and weapons. It urges Washington to take a direct role in reviving the peace process between India and Pakistan, which stalled after the November 2008 terror attacks on Mumbai.

If officials this week can begin setting the U.S. relationship with Pakistan on a footing of greater trust and military cooperation, it would mark a success for the Obama administration's foreign policy at a time when key relations with other nations, from ally Israel to nemesis Iran, are strained.

In response to the document, officials say the Pentagon is considering up to $500 million in additional military aid to Pakistan, paid through the Coalition Support Fund, an account used to reimburse Pakistan for military activities taken in support of U.S. operations in Afghanistan. Last year, the U.S. provided $2.8 billion in economic and security aid to Islamabad.

A spokesman for Pakistan's military, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, confirmed the document's existence and the military's input, but he declined to discuss its contents. Aides to Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Pentagon's primary interlocutor with Pakistan's military leadership, confirmed his staff had received the document and were analyzing it.

Michael Hammer, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said the White House looked forward to this week's talks, but would not comment on any specific proposals made during meetings between "scores" of senior U.S. officials and Pakistani counterparts over the last year.

"During the course of those discussions, a considerable number of ideas, initiatives, and opportunities have been brought up by both sides," Mr. Hammer said. "We are not prepared to comment on any one set of ideas other than to say that we are encouraged by an open and robust dialogue."

The document comes out of months of delicate and often secret negotiations between top political and military officials from both countries., to continue Wednesday at a so-called Strategic Dialogue in Washington. The meeting is to cover issues from the fight against Islamist militants to bolstering Pakistan's struggling economy.Among officials slated to attend are Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, the head of Pakistan's army.

"Pakistan and the United States have been partners and allies without always having a complete understanding of each other's strategic and security priorities," said Pakistan's ambassador in Washington, Husain Haqqani, in a telephone interview. "This time we want to build an understanding that can serve as a foundation for the day-to-day relationship."

It remains unclear what has fueled Pakistan's recent apparent shift on the Taliban. Some Western officials believe recent coalition gains in Afghanistan have prompted the Pakistanis to hedge in a new direction. Afghan officials and other Western officials say the Pakistanis may be trying to take control of nascent Taliban peace efforts by detaining the most pragmatic insurgent leaders.

The senior U.S. military official involved in recent talks with Pakistani officials , including Gen. Kayani,said the new seriousness in Pakistan's approach seems to be part of a realization that the U.S. has a limited time frame for directly assisting Islamabad. The official said Gen. Kayani in recent talks has focused on getting U.S. assistance to efforts that the Afghan and Pakistani governments can sustain as U.S. forces and investment in Afghanistan wane.

Some of Pakistan's requests are likely non-starters. India has steadfastly refused any outside mediation in its decades-long dispute with Pakistan. And U.S. officials say a civilian nuclear deal would be a tough sell given Pakistan's history of nuclear weapons proliferation.

To assuage the Pakistanis, the State Department has suggested setting up a bilateral working group to discuss the issue, in essence pushing a decision into the distant future. But U.S. officials, especially in those in the Pentagon, are eager to encourage Pakistan's re-engagement after nearly two years of growing tension between the allies,and say many of the other requests may be doable.

The U.S. may, for example, be willing to give Pakistan drone aircraft, although not the high-end, armed Predator and Reaper drones that have been used by the Central Intelligence Agency to kill hundreds of militants in Pakistan's tribal areas, according to a U.S. official.

The official said Pakistan already gets a few hours a week of surveillance time on those drones, and they're often "not looking at the same targets we'd necessarily want to be looking at."

"We want the U.S. to recognize Pakistan's nuclear status and give us assurances not to undermine the (weapons) program," said a senior Pakistani military officer who serves as an aide to Gen. Kayani. "Energy security is crucial, and we need U.S. help."

Among the proposals the Pentagon is considering is asking Pakistan to allow the U.S. to support expanded Pakistani counterterrorism efforts within their country. Currently, about 150 U.S. Special Operations forces are in Pakistan training the Pakistani military in counterinsurgency tactics. In addition, the U.S. may press the Pakistani government to end what they view as a negative information campaign against the U.S. by elements of Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency, the Inter-Service Intelligence directorate.


U.S. Sees Hope in Pakistan Requests for Help - WSJ.com

 

[pak-yes]

If US is really sincere in Building Long term Relationship then they should Provide a Physical Proof of it.

Yes,Immediately give Reapers to Pakistan as a token of Goodwill.

But then i guess we will be again used as Tissue Papers.

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

FACTBOX-Key facts in U.S.-Pakistan relations
Mon Mar 22, 2010 1:23pm EDT

By Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON, March 22 (Reuters) - Top U.S. and Pakistani officials meet on Wednesday as part of joint efforts to bolster what has often been a fractious relationship between the nuclear-armed nations. [nN22195688]

Here are some facts on the strategic nature of the relationship, where some of the problem areas are, what aid has been given and what is to come:

STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE:

Pakistan is of huge strategic importance for the United States as it seeks to defeat al Qaeda and cripple the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden -- the mastermind of the September 2001 attacks against the United States -- is believed to be hiding somewhere along the lawless Afghan border and Pakistan is a main U.S. ally in its anti-terrorism battle.

The Afghan Taliban's leaders also have sought refuge in Pakistan and Washington has been pressing Islamabad for months to do more to reel them in. Washington has praised the recent arrest of the Afghan Taliban's military commander in Karachi in a joint U.S.-Pakistan raid. Some access has been granted to him but Washington would like more.

Washington needs Pakistan as it seeks to stabilize Afghanistan, where President Barack Obama is sending in an additional 30,000 troops in the coming months.

Pakistan also is a transit point in getting in supplies for the U.S. military in landlocked Afghanistan, with a big volume of goods being trucked from the port in Karachi.

Pakistan also shares a border with Iran, with whom Washington has tense relations, particularly over Tehran's nuclear plans. The United States is nervously watching whether energy-starved Pakistan will follow through on an agreement with Iran for a natural gas pipeline. U.S. officials are reluctant to talk publicly about this, hoping the deal will fall apart.

SECURITY COOPERATION

Security cooperation is key between the two countries and much of this week's meetings in Washington will focus on how to improve that, from intelligence-sharing to more equipment given by the Untied States to its ally. The United States has provided F-16 fighter jets to Islamabad and Pakistan's navy chief was in Washington last week to discuss the handover in August of a refurbished U.S. frigate, the USS McInerney. Earlier this month, Washington said it would deliver 1,000 laser-guided bomb kits to Pakistan within weeks and is considering additional arms sales to help the Pakistani air force crack down on insurgents in the Afghan border region.

KEY IRRITANTS

There is mistrust on both sides on a range of issues, from security cooperation to how aid is delivered. Many Pakistanis feel the United States is only a reliable partner when its own strategic interests are at stake, citing previous cases of abandonment, particularly after the Soviets left Afghanistan.

Most polls show a majority of Pakistanis hold an unfavorable view of the U.S. government and are suspicious of its intentions. Pakistan's government bristles when Washington complains it has not done enough to tackle militants, countering it has "already done too much" in a war that has killed more than 2,000 soldiers and weighed on the economy.

There is also public anger because of civilian deaths from U.S. pilotless drone attacks in northwest Pakistan. Pakistan's government privately allows the attacks but this support is not voiced publicly because of a feared backlash at the polls.

A recent source of U.S. irritation has been delays in granting visas for U.S. officials wanting to audit how aid is spent. Pakistan, for its part, complains about increased security checks for its citizens visiting the United States. A group of parliamentarians from the tribal areas cut short a trip to the United States this month after refusing to have full-body scans at a Washington, D.C., airport.

AID PROGRAM

The United States is Pakistan's biggest aid donor and has given about $15 billion in direct aid and military reimbursements since 2002, about two-thirds of it security related. While Pakistan is being propped up by an $11.3 billion International Monetary Fund loan, a new U.S. aid package triples non-military assistance to Pakistan to $1.5 billion a year over the next five years. The spending plan is still being worked out but the flow of money is being held up as the Obama administration changes how it distributes that aid. Instead of largely using U.S. contractors and NGOs, it wants to funnel much of the assistance via the Pakistani government and domestic NGOs with the hope this will bolster local capacity.

INDIA

Pakistan wants the United States to do more to help resolve tensions with India and is concerned about the increasing role of its rival in Afghanistan. Islamabad also wants the United States to press India to resolve the core dispute between the nuclear-armed South Asian rivals, the divided region of Kashmir. India is opposed to outside involvement.


FACTBOX-Key facts in U.S.-Pakistan relations | Reuters

 

[ambidex]

If US is really sincere in Building Long term Relationship then they should Provide a Physical Proof of it.

Yes,Immediately give Reapers to Pakistan as a token of Goodwill.

But then i guess we will be again used as Tissue Papers.

I think the catch is in suggesting USA, what long term benefits Pakistan be able to create.

 

[DaRk WaVe]

advanced US military hardware

I am thinking what are we expecting? F-35s