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$1.2 billion US arms package for Pakistan
The United States is gearing up to offer Pakistan a $1.2 billion arms package, the first major sale of military hardware since Washington lifted sanctions and named Islamabad as a major non-NATO ally.
The United States is gearing up to offer Pakistan a $1.2 billion arms package, the first major sale of military hardware since Washington lifted sanctions and named Islamabad as a major non-NATO ally.
Three separate deals have been finalised and the Pentagon has sent the proposals to the US Congress for clearance.
The package includes sale of eight P-3C Orion surveillance aircraft (valued at $ 970 million), six Phalanx close-in weapon systems and upgrades ($ 155 million) and an ammunition complement of 2,000 TOW-2A missiles and 14 TOW-2A Fly-to-Buy missiles ($ 82 million).
Pakistan, however, has not yet succeeded in getting the nod for the big ticket item (the F-16 fighter planes) that it has been seeking for long. Official sources are emphatic that no decision has been taken at any level of the US government to provide F-16s to Pakistan.
Lawmakers have 30 days to block or raise objections to the three sale proposals forwarded on Tuesday. But defence and congressional circles do not anticipate any serious obstruction to the move, which is being seen as a reward for Pakistan's help in the US's war on terror.
Each of the three notifications to the Congress also asserts that the sale "will not affect the basic military balance in the region".
The Pentagon has sought to make out the case that the sale will contribute to US foreign policy and national security "by helping to improve the security of a friendly country that continues to be a key ally in the global war on terrorism".
** Democrat veteran Gary Ackerman, who led a vigorous campaign to lift the post-Pokhran II sanctions against India, has been unanimously elected for the second time as co-chairman of the India Caucus.
The Congressman from New York, who takes over from Joseph Crowley, has been a tireless activist of the caucus that has emerged as the biggest formation of its kind on Capitol Hill.
