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Pakistan needs improved gear to fight Taliban
LAHORE: The Pakistan Army urgently needs improved gear the US has been promising for years to eliminate the Taliban from the country, according to a Newsweek report on Sunday that cited top Pakistan military officials with pressure on the country more than ever to crack down on the Taliban in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks.New Delhi has been blaming Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba for the attacks, but the organisation itself has denied involvement. India has gone as far as pointing a finger at Pakistans intelligence agencies, and several of its parliamentarians have been calling for war with the neighbour. But international experts including some in India have been hinting that Islamabad could not have been involved. According to the Newsweek report, the army insists it is doing all it can in the war on terror with the limited equipment it has, but for the country to do more, the US urgently needs to deliver the promised goods. We are on a war footing, says the national-security chief, Gen (r) Mahmud Ali Durrani. But [the US] supply chain is working on a peacetime basis ... you have to support us at much greater speed. Senior Pakistani officials say Washington promised, in 2004, to deliver 20 Cobra helicopters within two years. But four years have passed, and only 12 have been delivered. The Newsweek quoted the officials as saying that Pakistan needed the remaining eight Cobras in a hurry. Were burning them up at quite a rate, says a senior Pakistani official. We use them aggressively in combat almost daily. Complaining to the Americans seems to do at least some good, he says, as lately, they have expedited the release of spare parts for the existing fleet of Cobras. The report says that Pakistan still has a long backlist of items the army needs in the war on terror including precision-laser target designators for F-16 fighters, helicopters and infantry to minimize collateral damage from strikes against militant hideouts; laser-guided bombs and ammunition for use with the targeting devices; and night-vision aviation goggles; jamming equipment to protect military vehicles from improvised explosive devices; and electronic eavesdropping equipment to find and monitor Taliban communications. Citing a congressional staff expert on US arms sales, the report says the Pakistan military has a reasonable basis for complaint, but thats universal, not unique to Pakistan. Nevertheless, he says, the delays probably arose at least in part from Washingtons impatience at the previous regimes reluctance to take decisive action against the Taliban. The congressional source says, Theres a drill thats as old as the hills, which is you do the slowdown of deliveries ... I think a lot of this came to a head prior to the changeover of government in Pakistan, so things may be getting better now. The report concludes that Pakistani troops can only hope so. Pakistan became a frontline ally of the US in the war on terror after the 9/11 attacks. US officials, however, have been repeatedly calling on Pakistan to do more to rein in the Taliban, especially in the Tribal Areas. Posted by: john frum 2008-12-15 |
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