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| Forget F-16s, America gives much else and more to Pakistan | |
By Manzoor Ahmed
While some US lawmakers have objected to the sale of F-16 combat aircraft to Pakistan—and the objections have been firmly overruled – Washington is actually giving much more and much else to Islamabad. The US has been leaving behind from its Afghanistan theatre much equipment that would be expensive and cumbersome to carry back home. It handed over last year 14 combat aircraft, 59 military trainer jets and 374 armoured personnel carriers to Pakistan from the weapons it is leaving behind in the region, the Congressional Research Service reported in May 2015.
The agency, which prepares internal reports for the US Congress, reported that the weapons supplied to Pakistan were earlier used by American forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. Technically, these weapons are classified as “Excessive Defence Articles”, i.e. equipment used by the US forces, which can be supplied to allied nations at withdrawal instead of shipping them back to the United States.
The weapons include F-16 armaments including 500 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles; 1,450 2,000-pound bombs; 500 JDAM Tail Kits for gravity bombs; and 1,600 Enhanced Paveway laser-guided kits. All this has cost Pakistan $629 million. Pakistan has also paid $298 million for 100 harpoon anti-ship missiles, 500 sidewinder air-to-air missiles ($95 million); and seven Phalanx Close-In Weapons System naval guns ($80 million).
Under Coalition Support Funds (in the Pentagon budget), Pakistan received 26 Bell 412EP utility helicopters, along with related parts and maintenance, valued at $235 million.
Pakistan is also receiving military equipment with a mix of its national funds and America’s foreign military funding.
These include 60 Mid-Life Update kits for F-16A/B combat aircraft (valued at $891 million, with $477 million of this in FMF). Pakistan has purchased 45 such kits, with all upgrades completed to date. This include 115 M-109 self-propelled howitzers ($87 million, with$53 million in FMF). All this is besides the fresh exports and supplies – USD 31.2 billion since the year 2002, which is an average of USD two billion a year.
The consignee (importer) of the vehicles was the US army, officials disclosed on Tuesday.
According to official documents and sources accessed by Dawn newspaper, vessel M.V. Liberty Promise carrying about 401 military vehicles, each weighing 2.5 ton, along with four other consignments belonging to private companies, berthed at the port’s East Wharf on March 1. The vessel left the port on March 6.
The Import General Manifest (IGM) of Pakistan Customs did not specify the brand of the military vehicles, but sources at the port told Dawn that most of them were Humvees which had been widely used by the US army in Iraq and Afghanistan up to 2011.
The vessel loaded (port of shipment) the military vehicles from Wilmington, US, the newspaper reported.
Such transactions, especially those that can used by trained civilians have reached the Taliban and other militant groups, causing serious security problems for Pakistan. Even the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), Pakistan’s fourth-largest political party has got access to them for use by its militia.
A recent raid the Para-military Rangers in Karachi of MQM hideouts showed dumps of American equipment and the matter has become public.
A report stated on Marcy 22, 2016 that the US has been using Karachi port to ‘import’ heavy military equipment. The equipment is supposed to be used, or for use by the US military stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is done under great secrecy. Containers are erected around these dumps and their movement is closely guarded.
While movement of equipment from or to Afghanistan via Karachi is understandable, why equipment travelling to and from Iraq is found in Karachi remains a mystery that neither the US nor Pakistan are resdy to talk about.
However, in May last year, the US denied it through a Twitter post and not an official statement. Its mission in Islamabad said the US “has never imported” any military equipment through Karachi.
This bland denial bags the question: how else has the US been moving its equipment to Afghanistan, for which it is paying hefty sums year after year? It may not be classified as ‘import’, though.
There is obvious mutual advantage involved.
In a pithy commentary, Cyril Almeida wrote in Dawn on October 18, 2015: “Basically, since 9/11 and the US-led war in Afghanistan that began in Oct 2001, the Americans have engaged with us for three reasons.
“One, to help them wage war in Afghanistan. Two, to help wage war on Al Qaeda in the Af-Pak arena. Three, to keep terrorists away from our nuclear weapons.
“On all three counts, we have apparently screwed the Americans. The Taliban are our allies. OBL was our guest. And we’ve gone and built so many nukes, big and small, that it’s a bigger headache than ever. Ergo, Pakistan is the ally from hell.
“But what the hawks in America won’t tell you is that the Americans have pretty much been getting what they’ve been paying for. And it’s been bought on the cheap.
“Think of it this way — the Taliban are Pakistan’s greatest ally in a messed-up country on our border and we helped the Americans wage war on them.
“That war has cost the Americans roughly a trillion dollars. The residual force that is to stay on will cost them about $20bn a year.
“But for $2bn a year, we gave them a shot at creating an alternative future for Afghanistan. An alternative future with uncertain consequences for how the military here defines our national security priorities.”
The beneficiaries of these American largesses are the Pakistani military – ‘boys’ as Almeida often calls them.
India should take note that the ‘”special relationship” that the US and Pakistan have forged during the Cold War, when Pakistan was used to fight communism in the erstwhile Soviet Union and China and later to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan has endured, through tensions and tribulations, long after the Cold War is supposed to be over.
(The author is Kashmir based Freelance Journalist)
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