Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani is demanding the US provide access to better military equipment for Pakistan’s fight against extremists.
“I have been ambassador here for two years, and all I have to show for it is eight second-hand Mi-17 transport helicopters for a war that requires helicopters to root out al-Qaeda and the Taliban,” Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, noted.
According to the newspaper, Islamabad is seeking advanced US attack helicopters and other weapons as part of a comprehensive arms package to bolster preparations for a “silent surge” of more than 100,000 troops into the mountain lairs of militants.
“Military operations would have been quicker and much easier to plan and execute if we had the equipment,” Ambassador Haqqani said.
“We have had tremendous attrition and a lot of loss of lives because of not having the right equipment,” he pointed out.
The $2.5 billion in arms that Pakistan has requested includes new helicopter gunships, including AH-1W and the Apache-64-D, armed helicopters, such as the AH-6 and MD-530 Little Bird, and utility and cargo helicopters, such as the UH-60 Black Hawk, the CH-47 D Chinook and the UH-1Y Huey, the report said.
This, of course, flies in the face of the recent LSE report that this blog thoroughly debunked. If the official policy of the government were to support the Taliban, surely its representatives abroad would not be working to secure the equipment to fight them.
The efforts of the Ambassador in Washington appear to be paying off. According to the report in Dawn, the Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said that the American military “will continue to try to help them acquire the helicopters and other equipment they require to defeat the insurgents and terrorists in their midst.” Also the American Senator John McCain who is the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee said that he supports Pakistan’s request also.
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