Pak seeks N-deal,drone tech,military hardware from US: Report

The Pakistani delegation for Wednesday’s strategic dialogue include army chief Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and ISI’s Lt Gen Shuja Pasha. It is headed by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi,who would co-chair the strategic dialogue with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The 56-page Pakistani document outlines a range of aid Islamabad is seeking from the US,The Wall Street Journal reported citing American and Pakistani officials who have seen it or been briefed on its contents.

The daily said Pakistan’s fears of being outflanked by India,which has forged close ties with the Afghan government,are reflected in the document’s indirect language about regional security issues.

“The document raises concerns about India’s effort to modernise its military,in part through buying US equipment and weapons,” it said.

The high-level meeting between senior Pakistani and US officials here tomorrow “aims to stitch together their fraying alliance,” the report said.

“Right now,we’re looking at something that could deliver a big part of our success in Afghanistan,” a senior US military official was quoted as saying.

“Many of Pakistan’s requests build on longstanding demands for more US 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,” the newspaper said.

Among the requests is “greater cooperation between its spy agency and US intelligence outfits,more helicopter gunships and other military hardware needed to battle its own Taliban insurgency,and improved surveillance technology,such as pilot-less drone aircraft,” The Wall Street Journal said.

“Pakistan also wants a civilian nuclear energy cooperation deal with the US,and a role in any future peace talks between the Western-backed Afghan government and the Taliban,” it reported.

Post 9/11 attacks in the US,Pakistan has received more than USD 17.5 billion in American aid. Last year,the Congress passed a legislation to give USD 7.5 billion in civilian aid to Pakistan in five years.

Given the trust-deficit between the two countries,the Pakistani request is likely to raise eyebrows at least at the Capitol Hill,which is keen to ensure that its tax-payers money is not wasted.

Earlier this week,two top US Senators — John Kerry and Richard Lugar — wrote to Secretary of State Clinton,raising serious questions about the distribution of aid to Pakistan and the issue of accountability.

Qureshi is scheduled to meet both Kerry and Lugar,who are Chairman and Ranking Member respectively of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

He had a preliminary meeting with Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan,Richard

Holbrooke,on Monday,while Gen Kayani met Defence Secretary Robert Gates at Pentagon.

The Wall Street Journal said top US officials still believe that Pakistani intelligence agencies continue to have links with the Taliban and other terrorist elements.

“US 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 archival India out after an eventual US withdrawal,” it said.

“Everything with the Pakistanis is two steps forward and one step back,” said a senior US military official involved in talks with the Pakistanis,according to the daily.

“Anybody who expects straight linear progress out of a strategic dialogue between these two nations is really kind of naive. What it will be is a step forward and then we’ll see where they go with it,” the official was quoted as saying.