U.S. to offer more support to Pakistan

[fatman17]

You are not disagreeing with me again..
General Kayani I suspect knows full well the problems of any option. None are gong to be sweet in everyones eyes. Seems he is doing what is required, looking at the real long term issues while US is looking at their current situation as a NOW matter not long term future one involving Pakistan and Afghanistan.

never do

 

[DV RULES]

U.S. to offer more support to Pakistan

By Karen DeYoung

Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, January 8, 2011

The Obama administration has decided to offer Pakistan more military, intelligence and economic support, and to intensify U.S. efforts to forge a regional peace, despite ongoing frustration that Pakistani officials are not doing enough to combat terrorist groups in the country's tribal areas, officials said.

The decision to double down on Pakistan represents the administration's attempt to call the bluff of Pakistani officials who have long complained that the United States has failed to understand their security priorities or provide adequate support.


That message will be delivered by Vice President Biden, who plans to travel to Pakistan next week for meetings with its military chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, and top government leaders. Biden will challenge the Pakistanis to articulate their long-term strategy for the region and indicate exactly what assistance is needed for them to move against Taliban sanctuaries in areas bordering Afghanistan.

The strategy, determined in last month's White House Afghanistan war review, amounts to an intensifying of existing efforts to overcome widespread suspicion and anti-American sentiment in Pakistan, and build trust and stability.

President Obama and his top national security aides rejected proposals, made by some military commanders and intelligence officials who have lost patience with Pakistan, to allow U.S. ground forces to conduct targeted raids against insurgent safe havens, officials said. They concluded that the United States can ill afford to threaten or further alienate a precarious, nuclear-armed country whose cooperation is essential to the administration on several fronts.

The conclusions were referred to in a publicly released, five-page summary of the review as unspecified policy "adjustments." Several administration officials said that the classified review identified areas where stronger effort was needed rather than specific new programs.

The review resolved to "look hard" at what more could be done to improve economic stability, particularly on tax policy and Pakistan's relations with international financial institutions. It directed administration and Pentagon officials to "make sure that our sizeable military assistance programs are properly tailored to what the Pakistanis need, and are targeted on units that will generate the most benefit" for U.S. objectives, said one senior administration official who participated in the review and was authorized to discuss it on the condition of anonymity.

Pakistan has complained in the past that promised U.S. aid, currently projected to total more than $3 billion in 2011, has been slow to arrive and that requests for helicopters and other military equipment have remained unfulfilled.

Beginning with Biden's visit, the time may be ripe for a frank exchange of views and priorities between the two sides, another administration official said. The Pakistanis "understand that Afghanistan-Pakistan has become the single most important foreign policy issue to the United States, and their cachet has gone up." But they also realize that they may have reached the point of maximum leverage, this official said, "and things about their region are going to change one way or the other" in the near future, as Congress and the American public grow increasingly disillusioned with the war and a timeline for military withdrawal is set.

"Something is going to give," he said. "There is going to be an end-game scenario and they're trying to guess where we're heading."

On intelligence, the administration plans to address Pakistan's complaints that the Americans have not established enough outposts on the Afghan side of the border to stop insurgent infiltration, while pressing the Pakistanis to allow U.S. and Afghan officials to staff border coordination centers inside Pakistan itself.

The intelligence coordination is part of an effort to build political, trade and security links between Pakistan and Afghanistan as a way of assuaging Pakistan's fears that India, its traditional adversary, is building its own influence in Afghanistan. "We think there's a lot of room for improvement on that front," the senior official said.

The administration also plans "redouble our efforts to look for political approaches" to ending the war, including a recognition that Pakistan "must play an important role," if not a dominant one, in reconciliation talks with the Taliban, he said.

An intelligence estimate prepared for the review concluded that the war in Afghanistan could not be won unless the insurgent sanctuaries were wiped out and that there was no real indication Pakistan planned to undertake the effort.

But the White House concluded that while Taliban safe havens were "a factor," they were "not the only thing that stands between us and success in Afghanistan," the senior official said.

"We understand the general view a lot of people espouse" in calling for direct U.S. ground attacks, he said of the intelligence estimate. But while the administration's goal is still a Pakistani offensive, the review questioned whether "classic clear, hold and build" operations were the only way to deny the insurgents free access to the borderlands, and asked whether "a range of political, military, counterterrorism and intelligence operations" could achieve the same result.

That view represents a significant shift in administration thinking, perhaps making a virtue of necessity given Pakistani refusal thus far to launch the kind of full-scale ground offensive the United States has sought in North Waziristan.

"The challenge is that when you talk about safe havens in Pakistan, you imagine some traditional military clearing operation that then settles the issue," the official said. While the Pakistani military has cleared insurgents from most of the tribal areas, it remains heavily deployed in those areas, where little building has taken place.


The operations, involving 140,000 Pakistani troops, have pushed the Taliban and al-Qaeda into concentrations in North Waziristan, where the United States has launched a withering barrage of missile attacks from remotely piloted drone aircraft, guided in large part by Pakistani intelligence.


Kayani, the Pakistani military chief, has said he will eventually launch an offensive in North Waziristan. But he has told the Americans that he cannot spare additional troops from Pakistan's half-million-man army, most of which is deployed along the Indian border, and that he lacks the proper equipment to conduct operations he fears will drive insurgents deeper inside Pakistan's populated areas.

U.S. military commanders have pushed numerous times over the past 18 months for more latitude to allow Special Operations troops to carry out missions across the Pakistan border, officials said. The CIA has similarly sought to expand the territory inside Pakistan it can patrol with armed drones, prodding Pakistan repeatedly for permission to fly drones over Quetta, a city in Baluchistan where the Taliban's political leaders are thought to be based.

The senior administration official, who called the proposals "ideas, not even operational concepts much less plans," said they were rejected by the White House in the most recent review, as they have been repeatedly in the past, as likely to cause more harm than good. "We've got to increasingly try to look at this through their lens," the official said of Pakistan, "not because we accept it wholesale, but because their actions are going to continue to be driven by their perspective."


"In the long run," he said, "our objectives have to do with the defeat of al-Qaeda and the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons. If you're not careful here . . . you may do something in the short run that makes gains against the policy objective in North Waziristan but proves self-defeating in the long term."

Ratus Ratus:-General Kayani I suspect knows full well the problems of any option. None are gong to be sweet in everyones eyes. Seems he is doing what is required, looking at the real long term issues while US is looking at their current situation as a NOW matter not long term future one involving Pakistan and Afghanistan.

I want to say very clearly that

“INDIA SEEKS TO EAT READY DISH”

This the time when we have to clear our aim and further strategy over USA because US is not interesting to support Pakistan as long run in Afghanistan, his eyes flattering over India after the stability, and now they only want to calm down situation with help of Pakistan, forcing Pakistan to attack those who didn’t included in CIA, NATO & Raw’s good book and once they get success to hold over situation they will throughout Pakistan like tissue paper and say Well done Pakistan & well come to India. So you can observe that US is not interesting to deliver Pakistan Technology he desired because Pakistan’s aim to stabilize regional security & peace and providing us their nuts they require more from their provided second class temporary weapons. Question: Then for what we are struggling?

It already understood reality that USA looks India as his puppet in this region so it doesn’t make interest to them transferring sophisticated and hi tech long run weapons and delivery systems to Pakistan, so this is right time where we have to open their minds not important how it will be pleasant for them or not but they have to do what we want otherwise NO OPERATION.

Question: What will be next?

They cried over South Wasiristan, - we lunched operation
They are now crying over North Wasiristan – Operation under discussion

Swat, Tribal agencies we already took action & operation,
What will be next?

Pakistan?

If their aid included to develop our Forces on long run focus than it make worth otherwise Pistols & missiles are our in house production.

 

[ajpirzada]

now that was quite an article... i have never seen a piece in US newspapers (quoting US officials) which analyses the situation with such neutrality.

 

[my name is arya]

if i was pakistani pm then i will ask more jobs , developments , and rest good thing

i will not go for wepaons

its time when pakistan has to understand wepaons cant make future its developments growth happniess brotherhood make any nation future

pakistan should not repate histroy mistake is there no a single leader who can show the right path

allah know what will be pakistan future if they dont change there negative attitude

 

[XYON]

Here is what the US has given to Pakistan so far!

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/pakarms.pdf

Major U.S. Arms Sales and Grants to Pakistan Since 2001
Prepared for the Congressional Research Service by K. Alan Kronstadt, Specialist in South Asian Affairs (1/4/11)
Major U.S. arms sales and grants to Pakistan since 2001 have included items useful for counterterrorism
and counterinsurgency operations, along with a number of “big ticket” platforms more suited to conventional
warfare. In dollar value terms, the bulk of purchases have been made with Pakistani national funds, but U.S.
grants are currently eclipsing this in recent years. The Pentagon reports total Foreign Military Sales agreements
with Pakistan worth about $5.4 billion for FY2002-FY2010 (in-process sales of F-16 combat aircraft and related
equipment account for more than half of this). The United States also has provided Pakistan with more than $2.1
billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) since 2001. These funds are used to purchase U.S. military
equipment for longer-term modernization efforts. Pakistan also has been granted U.S. defense supplies as Excess
Defense Articles (EDA).
Major post-2001 defense supplies provided, or soon to be provided, under FMF include:
! eight P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and their refurbishment (valued at $474 million, two
delivered);
! about 6,312 TOW anti-armor missiles ($186 million; at least 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);
! one ex-Oliver Hazard Perry class missile frigate via EDA ($65 million);
! 20 AH-1F Cobra attack helicopters via EDA ($48 million, 12 refurbished and delivered); and
! 121 refurbished TOW missile launchers ($25 million).
Supplies paid for with a mix of Pakistani national funds and FMF 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).
Notable items paid or to be paid for entirely with Pakistani national funds include:
! 18 new F-16C/D Block 50/52 combat aircraft (valued at $1.43 billion; 17 delivered to date);
! 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 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 Weapons System naval guns ($80 million).
Major articles transferred via EDA include:
! 14 F-16A/B combat aircraft;
! 59 T-37 military trainer jets’ and
! 550 M-113 armored personnel carriers.
The Pentagon has notified Congress on the possible transfer to Pakistan of three P-3B aircraft as EDA grants that
would be modified to carry the E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning suite in a deal worth up to $855 million,
but this effort has not progressed beyond the notification stage. Under Coalition Support Funds (part of the
Pentagon budget), Pakistan has received 26 Bell 412 utility helicopters, along with related parts and maintenance,
valued at $235 million. Under 1206, Frontier Corps, and Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund
authorities, the United States has provided four Mi-17 multirole helicopters (another six were provided
temporarily at no cost), two King Air 350 surveillance aircraft, 450 vehicles for the Frontier Corps, 20 Buffalo
explosives detection and disposal vehicles, hundreds of M-141 Bunker Defeat Munitions, helicopter spare parts,
sophisticated explosives detectors, night vision devices, radios, body armor, helmets, first aid kits, litters, and
large amounts of other individual soldier equipment. The United States has also funded and provided training
for several hundred (at least 370) Pakistani military officers.
Source: U.S. Department of Defense