Rumsfeld vows to aid Pakistan's 'legitimate defence needs'
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld assured Pakistan the US would help the predominantly Islamic nation meet its “legitimate” defence needs, a Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman said today.
Rumsfeld gave the assurance when he met with President Gen Pervez Musharraf on a swift stopover in Pakistan yesterday during a tour that has also taken him to Iraq and Afghanistan, spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said.
Pakistan was recently rewarded by the US for its support of the war on terrorism with an offer to sell Islamabad F-16 fighter jets – in addition to a separate €1bn arms package announced last year.
According to Jilani, Rumsfeld told Musharraf that the US would be “stepping up support to meet legitimate defence needs of Pakistan.” He did not elaborate.
A Foreign Ministry statement quoted Musharraf as telling Rumsfeld the offer to sell the F-16s would be “an important factor for preserving regional peace and security.”
Despite efforts over the past year by nuclear rivals Pakistan and India to bury five decades of enmity that has led to three wars, both countries are eager to upgrade their weaponry.
India has warned that delivering the F-16s that Pakistan has long sought could upset the fragile peace talks, and Pakistan has made similar complaints about India’s ambitions to boost its own defence capability. Washington appears to have balanced their demands by offering sophisticated fighter jets to both countries.
A Pakistani defence official said Musharraf and Rumsfeld shared views on US-led coalition operations against Taliban rebels in Afghanistan, and Pakistan’s “successes” against al Qaida-linked militants in its tribal regions of North and South Waziristan since late 2003.
Pakistan has arrested more than 700 al Qaida suspects after the September 11, 2001, attacks in the US, most of whom were later handed over to US officials - but has also faced criticism that Taliban rebels have found safe havens on its soil.
During Rumsfeld’s visit to Afghanistan earlier yesterday, President Hamid Karzai said he was seeking a long-term security partnership that might keep US troops there indefinitely.
Karzai made the statement at a news conference with Rumsfeld, who was notably reluctant to discuss the Bush administration’s level of interest in giving Afghanistan security guarantees.
It is not clear whether Rumsfeld would favour a long-term military presence in Afghanistan. Some believe he would prefer a more flexible arrangement for US aircraft overflight rights and possibly access to an Afghan air base for occasional training, refuelling and other activities. The Pentagon has already made such arrangements with other Central Asian nations.
About 20,000 US troops are in Afghanistan, a slightly higher total than usual because a brigade being rotated out of the country has yet to depart. Officers said the troop total soon will drop to about 18,300. That is in addition to about 8,200 troops from NATO countries in Kabul and elsewhere.
