Islamabad, Feb 17: Pakistan has gifted a substantial quantity of arms and ammunition, including machineguns, mortars and rockets, to the Afghan government to help equip its new national army. The arms were handed over to afghan authorities at a ceremony held yesterday at the Pakistani air force (PAF) base at Chaklala (Rawalpindi), reports the 'News.' Afghan charge d'affaires to Pakistan Rahmatullah Musaghazi was also present.
This delivery forms ''part of Pakistan's commitment to support and strengthen the Central government, including the raising of the national army of Afghanistan as envisioned under the Bonn conference,'' officials said, adding Pakistani armed forces had also offered to train Afghan army personnel. The weapons include 5,000 sub-machineguns (MP5A3S) with 50,000 rounds of ammunition, 180 82-mm calibre mortars and 10,000 mortar shells, and 75 RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenades with 750 rockets for them.
Bureau Report