Pentagon seeks $3bn for Pakistan military

WASHINGTON: The Obama administration plans to seek as much as $3 billion over the next five years to train and equip Pakistan’s military and is considering sending 10,000 more troops to battle the Taliban in Afghanistan, defense officials said Wednesday.

The money would include $500 million in an additional war budget request for the coming year that will go to Congress this month, The Associated Press has learned.

In outlining the spending program publicly for the first time, defence officials told the Senate Armed Services Committee it is critical to train and equip the Pakistanis so they have the skills and will to fight.

The $3 billion for Pakistan would complement a plan for $7.5 billion in civilian aid. That civilian request would come in legislation sponsored by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Democrat John Kerry, and the committee’s top Republican, Richard Lugar of Indiana.

With the administration’s backing, their bill would provide $1.5 billion next year, linked to Pakistan’s counter terror and democracy-building efforts, officials said.

Defence and other administration officials spoke about the spending plans on condition of anonymity because the specific budget requests have not been released.

The spending plan, defence officials said, would give commanders greater leeway to spend money more quickly to meet the needs of the Pakistani military.
 
The spending plan would include counterinsurgency training so the Pakistanis can better attack al Qaida havens in the border region.
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Religious extremists threaten Pakistan’s existence: Petraeus

WASHINGTON: Religious extremists operating along the Pak-Afghan border pose a direct threat to Pakistan’s existence, the commander of US forces in the region, General David Petraeus, warned on Wednesday.

During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on US President Barack Obama’s new strategy, Gen. Petraeus also vowed to take the fight to insurgents in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

He did not explain how he planned to do so but last President Obama said that the United States would pursue ‘high-value’ terrorist targets inside Pakistan but would consult Islamabad before doing so.

Also last week, Obama’s National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones indicated that the US would continue drone attacks inside Pakistan as they had proven ‘effective’ against the militants.

Gen. Petraeus told the senate panel that the Taliban and al-Qaeda groups based in the border area were ‘an ever more serious threat to Pakistan’s very existence.’

The Pakistani military, he said, had stepped up operations against the militants but more action was needed.

Committee Chairman Carl Levin warned that he did not agree with the administration’s contention that progress in Afghanistan depended on success on the Pakistan side of the border.

Afghanistan’s future should not be tied totally to the Pakistan government’s decisions, he said, adding that he remained sceptical about Pakistan’s ability to secure its border.

‘I remain sceptical that Pakistan has either the will or the capability to secure their border,’ he said.

Senator Levin earlier urged Pakistan to prove it’s willing to take on extremists within its own borders before the US delivers financial aid or weapons to Islamabad. The senator said he did not believe the United States can buy stability in Pakistan.

Senator Levin said he would support economic and military aid only after he saw that the Pakistani government understood that it’s in its own interest to battle its internal insurgent threats. So far, he said he is not convinced.

‘If I thought we could buy stability, I would buy it,’ the Democrat told reporters. ‘I have no reluctance in purchasing stability if it’s effective. But I don’t think it’s effective unless the recipient of the support sees where the threat is to them. I think otherwise it can backfire.’

Gen. David Petraeus, however, disagreed with Senator Levin’s scepticism about additional US aid to Pakistan, insisting that the US assistance would help Pakistan fight the insurgents.
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Awami League Blowing its Chance

As an individual from one country who often finds himself protesting the actions of another, I frequently am told that doing so or demanding change is an affront to a nation’s sovereignty. That is seriously ironic, considering the continuous demands placed on my country, the United States, and my people’s country, Israel. Bangladeshi officials and governments, for instance, have demanded that Israel withdraw from territory, give free reign to Hamas terrorists committed to its destruction, release murderers of its people, give away its capital Jerusalem, create and fund a hostile state, and so forth. Some have demanded the US quit Iraq or close the terrorist holding base at Guantanamo. So be it; that is their prerogative. Read more