US offers $2bn security package to Pakistan

Washington: Reports suggest that this week's 'strategic dialogue' between the United States and Pakistan will deliver a $2 billion military package to Pakistan ostensibly aimed at boosting its efforts to battle extremists in its border regions with Afghanistan.

This time it will be a $2 billion security assistance package, spread across five years, aimed at bolstering Pakistani capability to fight al Qaeda and Taliban militants in the Waziri tribal region. The package basically acknowledges the Pakistani argument that it is not capable of going after terrorists, and needs greater support from the United States.

The aid will enable it to purchase helicopters, weapons systems and equipment to intercept communications.

The military package will fall under the United States' Foreign Military Financing (FMF) programme, which provides grants and loans to countries to purchase weapons and defence equipment produced in the United States.

It will also include more counterinsurgency assistance to Pakistani troops and a programme that will allow members of the Pakistani military to study at American war colleges.

The $2 billion package is over and above the billions of dollars the United States already gives Pakistan in military aid and a $7.5 billion aid package over five years in non-military counter-terrorism assistance approved by Congress last year.