OFFICIAL NEWS
US to announce major military aid package for Pakistan
Baku, October 22 (AZERTAC). The US is set to announce a significant package of military and security aid to Pakistan on Friday, the final day of the latest US-Pakistan strategic talks, according to BBC News.
The multi-year aid package will be “no-strings-attached”, officials say.
But the Obama administration will make clear it expects Islamabad to do more in the fight against Islamic militants.
Since 2005, Pakistan has received more than $1bn of military aid a year from the US - and received close to $2bn for the last fiscal year.
US officials said Pakistan needed further, specific assistance for the fight against militants and needed to know it could rely on the US in the long term.
The aid, expected to be close to $2bn, will be contingent on approval by the US Congress and will pay for equipment needed in counter-insurgency and counter-terror operations, among other things.
Vali Nasr, a senior adviser on Pakistan and Afghanistan at the state department, told the BBC that the battle against Pakistani militants had expanded over the last year, but the summer`s monsoon floods had undone a lot of the Pakistani army`s efforts.
“We believe that we have made a great deal of progress and we believe that that progress has reduced the threat to our homeland, while not eliminating it,” Richard Holbrooke, the US special representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan, said this week.
But officials in Washington have also been frustrated at the limits of Pakistan`s desire and ability to help.