Pak to get US choppers for anti-terror operation

US will provide two fixed-wing aircraft and a fleet of 10 helicopters to Pak to beef up operations against terrorism and drug trafficking.

The United States would provide two fixed-wing aircraft and a fleet of 10 helicopters to Pakistan to beef up operations against terrorism and drug trafficking in the Pak-Afghan border.

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In addition to this, the US has also shown readiness to provide intelligence equipments for surveillance on the border with Afghanistan, Brigadier (Retd) Javed Iqbal Cheema, Director General of the National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) attached to the Pakistan's Interior Ministry, said.

Washington made the commitment to provide the new aircraft during the meeting of US-Pak Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism/Law Enforcement in the US. The Pakistani delegation at the talks was headed by Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao.

"The US officials committed to provide us the air squad when we put up this demand during the meeting of the Joint Working Group," Cheema said without giving details of what kind of aircraft Pakistan would be getting. When the new aircraft joins its ranks, the fleet at the disposal of Interior Ministry would go up to 12, he said.

Cheema, who attended the talks, also said the meeting discussed the national criminal database, counter-narcotics, threat assessment in the Federally Administered Tribal Area as well as political changes there and political and ideological dimensions of countering terrorism.