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- Wall Street Journal says Washington not shy about pursuing weapon deals in region
- US aid made it easier for Pakistan to ramp up its fight against militants on the Afghan border
- Washington’s relationships with the two nations are very different
NEW YORK: The Obama administration is sharply expanding the sales of weapons to both India and Pakistan in an effort to build “closer ties with each country, while creating new opportunities for American defence firms,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
The report appeared in the leading financial newspaper as foreign secretaries of the two South Asian nations began peace talks in New Delhi.
“The US has sought to remain neutral in the thorny relationship between the nuclear-armed neighbours,” the journal said, while pointing out that Washington has not been shy about pursuing weapon deals in the region.
Not shy: The US has made billions of dollars in weapon deals with India, which is in the midst of a five-year, $50 billion push to modernise its military, it said.
At the same time, according to the newspaper, the US military aid to Pakistan stands to nearly double next year, allowing Islamabad to acquire more US-made helicopters, night-vision goggles and other military equipment.
Aid: “The aid has made it easier for Pakistan to ramp up its fight against militants on the Afghan border, as the US tries to convince Islamabad that its biggest security threat is within the country, not in India,” the dispatch said.
During a late January trip to Islamabad, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Washington would for the first time give Pakistan a dozen surveillance drones.
India lobbied against the recent US legislation giving Pakistan billions of dollars in new non-military aid; the measure passed. A top Pakistani diplomat warned last week that a two-year-old civilian nuclear deal between the US and India could threaten Pakistan’s national security by making it easier for India to covertly build more nuclear weapons.
Different relationship: Washington’s relationships with the two nations are very different, the journal said, noting, “India, which is wealthier and larger than its neighbour, pays for weapon purchases with its own funds.”
“Pakistan, by contrast, uses American grants to fund most of its arms purchases. A new US counterinsurgency assistance fund for Pakistan is slated to increase from $700 million in fiscal year 2010 to $1.2 billion in fiscal year 2011.
“We do straight commercial deals with India, while Pakistan effectively uses the money we give them to buy our equipment,” the journal said, citing a US official who works with the two countries. “For 2010 and 2011, India could well be the most important market in the world for defence contractors looking to make foreign military sales,” Tom Captain, the vice chairman of Deloitte LLP’s aerospace and defence practice, was quoted as saying.
Russia has been India’s main source of military hardware for decades, supplying about 70 percent of equipment now in use.
The Obama administration is trying to persuade New Delhi to buy American jet fighters, a shift would lead to closer military and political relations between India and the US, White House officials cited by the journal said.
“It would also be a bonanza for US defence contractors,” the journal said, noting US has dispatched senior officials like Robert Gates to New Delhi “to deliver the message that Washington hopes India will choose American defence firms for major purchases in the years ahead”.
Shortly after a late January visit by Gates – on the same tour that took him to Islamabad – the administration signed off on India’s request to purchase 145 US-made howitzers, a $647 million deal.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Gates’s visit did not affect the substance or timing of the howitzer purchase. “That came days after India formally expressed its intent to purchase 10 cargo transport aircraft from Boeing Co in a deal that could be worth more than $2 billion,” according to analysts cited by the journal. app
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\02\26\story_26-2-2010_pg1_9
