Updated on
Summary
The Pentagon is ramping up delivery of military equipment long sought by the Pakistani army to fight militants, U.S. officials said. Some $200 million worth of equipment and services already in the pipeline for Pakistan has started to arrive but officials declined to provide full details, saying many of the more sophisticated items were classified. The U.S. military aid is meant to help Pakistan mount a long-awaited ground offensive against Taliban fighters in their South Waziristan stronghold along the border with Afghanistan, where U.S. and NATO forces are fighting a growing insurgency. Direct military aid from the Pentagon, officials said, would come on top of the equipment that Pakistan receives through normal foreign military sales overseen by the State Department. Officials say those sales vary year to year but generally total around $300 million annually. Another $200 million worth of equipment for fiscal year 2009, which ended on Sept. 30, remains available for Pakistan, and the Pentagon plans to nearly double the amount of direct military aid for fiscal 2010 to $700 million, officials said. Pakistan has requested precision-guided weapons as well as pilotless drone aircraft, whose increasing use by the CIA to attack Taliban and al Qaeda targets in Pakistani tribal areas has fanned anti-American sentiment. Pentagon officials refused to release the list of the items authorized for Pakistan or to comment on the drone request. But many U.S. lawmakers are skeptical of Pakistan's intentions and transferring drone technology would face Indian resistance. We are doing everything within our power to assist Pakistan in improving its counter-insurgency capabilities, Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Mark Wright said.
