LAHORE: The Obama administration is giving final touches to a security assistance package totalling $2 billion over five years to help Pakistan fight extremists on its border with Afghanistan.
The aid is expected to be announced later this week when officials are in Washington to hold high-level strategic talks, US officials and diplomatic sources told CNN. The package aims at addressing the country’s insistence that it does not have the capability to go after terrorists and needs more support from the US, the sources said.
The aid will help the country purchase helicopters, weapons and equipment to intercept communications. It falls under the US’ Foreign Military Financing (FMF) programme, which provides grants and loans to countries to purchase weapons and defence equipment produced in the US.
The channel said the $2 billion package was on top of billions of dollars the US already gives the country in military aid and a $7.5 billion aid package over five years in non-military assistance approved by the US Congress last year. “The key is to beef up their ability to go after the militants, it cannot be diverted to other threats,” a senior US official said.
Pakistan has long argued its military is geared toward defending itself against threats from India and does not have the kind of equipment it needs to fight insurgents. US officials acknowledge that country’s current military hardware is not perfectly suited toward such operations, but made it clear that the new aid must be directed toward fighting extremists rather than India, the report said.
“We realise they need different kinds of capacities and more of them to handle extremists form within their own border,” one official said. “They do need more capacity and the kind of capabilities that are geared toward fighting extremists, rather than a major land conflict.”
US officials acknowledge that the military is stretched thin since this summer’s devastating floods and has had to divert resources from the fight against extremists to conduct relief efforts. They hope the new assistance will address the military’s resource limitations. Also, reports said Senator Luger would begin legislation on the aid package soon.
