I thought they were assisting us in the WOT based on Priciple not for goodies! yeah, ....right
F-16 fighter jets and total debt forgiveness are shaping up to be Pakistan's price for US demands that it rein in fighters along its borders with Afghanistan and India, analysts and reports said as President Pervez Musharraf headed to the United States yesterday.
| Isn't this the second or third time we've bought this particulr commondity? |
Mr Musharraf is due to land in the US for a nine-day trip visiting Boston, Washington, New York and Los Angeles and meeting President George W. Bush at Camp David on June 24. Washington's 'tight' war-on-terror ally, as Mr Bush calls Mr Musharraf, will seek the write-off of Islamabad's remaining US$1.8 billion debt to the US, a new trade pact giving Pakistani exporters greater market access and an end to military sanctions. The release of F-16s paid for by Pakistan more than a decade ago would be a top priority.
How about we give em to India, would that change your mind Perv?
Politically, some analysts believe Mr Musharraf may seek approval for tough action against the opposition for virtually paralysing the eight-month-old parliament with a campaign to make him surrender the power he seized in a 1999 coup.
He oughtta crack some Qazi and Fazl heads on his own behalf
| Having Perv do some serious turban-thumping would seem to be to our advantage. Pak "democracy" seems to involve more holy men, guns, and spittle than most of us would consider normal... |
Two US-based publications reported this week that the long-awaited release of 28 F-16s, paid for by Islamabad but blocked in the early 1990s because of Pakistan's nuclear programme, is nigh because of its lynchpin war-on-terror role. 'Those aircraft, along with debt forgiveness and trade status, will be Washington's reward for Pakistan's support in the war against Al-Qaeda,' the private Stratfor think-tank wrote in a report published on its website on June 17. The Defence And Foreign Affairs journal said the release of new Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters would be announced during Mr Musharraf's visit.
They should get 1990's models - that's what they paid for
The Pentagon late Thursday denied the reports, calling them 'completely false'. US demands on Pakistan focus on curbing militants making forays into Afghanistan and Indian-controlled Kashmir. 'The Bush administration has a wishlist of its own where Pakistan is concerned - including winning an agreement to cease cross-border operations in Afghanistan as well as into Indian-controlled Kashmir,' Stratfor said.
| You can't do that while Qazi, Fazl, Hafeez, and Salahuddin are running around... |
US demands could go as far as the thorny area of hot pursuit rights for its troops in Afghanistan, it added.
damn right!
US troops are thwarted in their Al-Qaeda hunt by the easy passage of rebel fighters over the porous border into Pakistani tribal regions. Islamabad-based analyst Aqil Shah said: 'The Pentagon would definitely be concerned about what is now seen as the renewed Pakistani assistance towards resurgent neo-Taliban. 'American commanders in Afghanistan are not happy with what the Pakistanis are up to. There's a concern that he's delivered on Al-Qaeda, what about the Taliban? There are allegations that Pakistan through the Taleban is destabilising the Karzai administration.'
| Even the hard of seeing can make that out... |
The prospect of sacking the Parliament as a way out of the political stalemate may also be discussed, Islamabad-based diplomats believe. 'Musharraf probably will take some discreet sounding. He'll say 'it's not working, Parliament is in a state of complete gridlock',' a Western diplomat told AFP. 'He's becoming increasingly frustrated, he can't do anything with his reform agenda. He is now staring down the barrel of an eight-month-old parliament, and no legislation has been passed except the budget.'
| That was the turbans' objective from the first. |
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