Washington: Ahead of its strategic dialogue
with the US, Pakistan has submitted a 56-page document to the
Obama Administration seeking a civil nuclear deal, drone
technology and military hardware to bring itself on par with
India, according to a media report.
In the document, which is believed to have been submitted
to the US before the arrival of the high-power Pakistani
delegation here on Saturday last, Islamabad also seeks
American help in revival of the Indo-Pak dialogue stalled
since the Mumbai attacks and resolving its chronic water and
power shortages.
The Pakistani delegation for tomorrow's strategic
dialogue include army chief Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and ISI's
Lt Gen Shuja Pasha. It is headed by Foreign Minister Shah
Mahmood Qureshi, who would co-chair the strategic dialogue
with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The 56-page Pakistani document outlines a range of aid
Islamabad is seeking from the US, The Wall Street Journal
reported citing American and Pakistani officials who have seen
it or been briefed on its contents.
The daily said Pakistan's fears of being outflanked by
India, which has forged close ties with the Afghan government,
are reflected in the document's indirect language about
regional security issues.
"The document raises concerns about India's effort to
modernise its military, in part through buying US equipment
and weapons," it said.
The high-level meeting between senior Pakistani
and US officials here tomorrow "aims to stitch together their
fraying alliance," the report said.
"Right now, we're looking at something that could
deliver a big part of our success in Afghanistan," a senior US
military official was quoted as saying.
"Many of Pakistan's requests build on longstanding
demands for more US assistance. But officials on both sides
say that by detailing them in a single comprehensive document,
Islamabad is trying to signal its willingness to align its
interests with those of Washington, its vision for a
partnership and its price," the newspaper said.
Among the requests is "greater cooperation between
its spy agency and US intelligence outfits, more helicopter
gunships and other military hardware needed to battle its own
Taliban insurgency, and improved surveillance technology, such
as pilot-less drone aircraft," The Wall Street Journal said.
"Pakistan also wants a civilian nuclear energy
cooperation deal with the US, and a role in any future peace
talks between the Western-backed Afghan government and the
Taliban," it reported.
Post 9/11 attacks in the US, Pakistan has received more
than USD 17.5 billion in American aid. Last year, the Congress
passed a legislation to give USD 7.5 billion in civilian aid
to Pakistan in five years.
Given the trust-deficit between the two countries, the
Pakistani request is likely to raise eyebrows at least at
the Capitol Hill, which is keen to ensure that its tax-payers
money is not wasted.
Earlier this week, two top US Senators -- John Kerry
and Richard Lugar -- wrote to Secretary of State Clinton,
raising serious questions about the distribution of aid to
Pakistan and the issue of accountability.
Qureshi is scheduled to meet both Kerry and Lugar, who
are Chairman and Ranking Member respectively of the powerful
Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
He had a preliminary meeting with Special US
Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard
Holbrooke, yesterday, while Gen Kayani met Defence Secretary
Robert Gates at Pentagon.
The Wall Street Journal said top US officials still
believe that Pakistani intelligence agencies continue to have
links with the Taliban and other terrorist elements.
"US officials have complained that Pakistan's
intelligence services continued to offer clandestine support
for the Taliban, which it has long viewed as a proxy it could
use to secure its influence in Afghanistan and keep archival
India out after an eventual US withdrawal," it said.
"Everything with the Pakistanis is two steps forward and
one step back," said a senior US military official involved in
talks with the Pakistanis, according to the daily.
"Anybody who expects straight linear progress out of
a strategic dialogue between these two nations is really kind
of naive. What it will be is a step forward and then we'll see
where they go with it," the official was quoted as saying.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 20:42