US approves sale of AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters to Pakistan.

[Poseidon]

State Dept.
Approves Pakistan
Arms Request.

By
DOUG CAMERON
April 6, 2015 6:12 p.m. ET
The State Department has approved Pakistan's
request to buy almost $1 billion in U.S.-made
attack helicopters, missiles and other
equipment aimed at fighting insurgents in the
country's mountainous north and west
regions.
U.S. defense companies are engaged in a
three-way tussle with Russia and China to sell
weapons to Pakistan, complicated by the need
to avoid upsetting neighbor India and its even
larger arms' import market.
The Pentagon said Monday that Pakistan had
requested 15 AH-1Z Viper helicopters made by
the Bell arm of Textron Inc., as well as 1,000
Hellfire missiles produced by Lockheed Martin
Corp. and a host of other communications and
training equipment with a total value of $952
million, according to a notification to Congress,
which needs to approve any sale.
Any deal would be structured as a foreign
military sale between the two governments.
"This proposed sale of helicopters and weapon
systems will provide Pakistan with military
capabilities in support of its counterterrorism
and counterinsurgency operations in South
Asia," said the Defense Security Cooperation
Agency, which oversees U.S. military exports.
Write to Doug Cameron at
[email protected]

State Dept. Approves Pakistan Arms Request - WSJ

 

[sorcerer]

Ex-envoy opposes US arms for Pakistan to fight extremism
NEW YORK: Hussain Haqqani, Pakistan's former ambassador to the United States, has strongly opposed the use of American military aid to fight extremists in Pakistan and said instead it will fuel conflict in South Asia.

The Obama administration announced this month to sell almost $1 billion worth of attack helicopters, missiles and other equipment to Pakistan.



Mr Haqqani said that: "Pakistan's failure to tackle its jihadist challenge is not the result of a lack of arms but reflects an absence of will.

He said: "With nuclear weapons, Pakistan no longer has any reason to feel insecure about being overrun by a larger Indian conventional force.

For the US to continue supplying a Pakistani military that is much larger than the country can afford, will only invigorate Pakistani militancy and militarism at the expense of its 200 million people, one-third of whom continue to live at less than a dollar a day per household."



The former ambassador said that unless Pakistan changes its worldview, American weapons will end up being used to fight or menace India and perceived domestic enemies instead of being deployed against jihadists.

"Competition with India remains the overriding consideration in Pakistan's foreign and domestic policies. By aiding Pakistan over the years—some $40 billion since 1950, according to the Congressional Research Service—the US has fed Pakistan's delusion of being India's regional military equal.

Seeking security against a much larger neighbour is a rational objective but seeking parity with it on a constant basis is not.

Instead of selling more military equipment to Pakistan, Mr Haqqani said, US officials should convince Pakistan that its ambitions of rivaling India are akin to Belgium trying to rival France or Germany.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2015
Ex-envoy opposes US arms for Pakistan to fight extremism - Pakistan - DAWN.COM