Author: Munir Ahmad, Associated
Press Writer
Publication: Washington Post
Date: September 27, 2002
A top U.S. defense official said
Friday that the Bush administration will soon restore military aid to Pakistan
to bolster the country's military capabilities - a deal Islamabad hopes
will include new F-16 fighter jets.
"The United States has an interest
in having Pakistan's capabilities enhanced," U.S. Undersecretary of Defense
Douglas J. Feith said. "We have an interest in working together with the
Pakistani armed forces on common security issues."
Feith spoke at the end of four days
of talks between U.S. and Pakistani defense officials in Pakistan's capital,
the first high-level meetings held since the United States imposed sanctions
following Pakistan's nuclear tests in 1998.
The talks focused on the release
of weapons and equipment already earmarked for Pakistan but withheld after
the nuclear tests. The meeting - known as the Defense Consultative Group
- also discussed the purchase of new weapons and the possibility of restarting
joint military exercises.
Feith said Pakistan's participation
in the U.S.-led war on terrorism had led U.S. authorities to reconsider
the four-year ban on military assistance.
"We are interested in creating a
security environment in which Pakistan and the United States can work together
to the maximum against the threat of terrorism and dealing with this very
serious problem of al-Qaida and Taliban," he said.
Pakistani Defense Secretary Gen.
Hamid Nawaz expressed interest in buying new arms and submitted a list
of defense equipment that included new F-16 fighter jets to patrol the
borders with Afghanistan and India.
In recent months, U.S. and Pakistani
security forces have been carrying out raids on suspected al-Qaida hide-outs
in remote areas along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.
Feith also said officials from both
countries were working toward a resumption in joint military exercises.
"We are looking at what training
we can do together," he said.
A second round of talks are expected
to be held in Washington as early as March, officials said.
U.S. military aid to Pakistan was
cut off in 1990 to punish the country for its growing nuclear program,
but Pakistan later received special U.S. administration permission to buy
spare parts for its existing weapons and aircraft.
Further sanctions were imposed and
the defense group meetings were scrapped after the 1998 nuclear tests,
but since then, Pakistan has become one of Washington's most important
allies in the war on terrorism.
