US wary of N-deal with Pak

As the he US-Pakistan strategic dialogue with Army-ISI combine at the centrestage begins on Wednesday at Capitol Hills leading daily The News ran aWall Street Journal story that quoted a senior US military official involved in talks with the Pakistanis as saying: "Everything with the Pakistanis is two steps forward and one step back".. "Anybody who expects straight linear progress out of a strategic dialogue between these two nations is really kind of naive. What it will be is a step forward and then we'll see where they go with it."

The WSJ story says: Pakistan also wants a civilian nuclear energy cooperation deal with the US, and a role in any future peace talks between the Western-backed Afghan government and the Taliban. Many US officials remain wary of such deals with Pakistan.

"Since the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the US, Pakistan has received more than $17.5 billion in US aid, the majority earmarked for the military and security, while insisting it was doing all it could to combat the Taliban and its Islamist allies. US officials have complained that Pakistan's intelligence services continued to offer clandestine support for the Taliban, which it has long viewed as a proxy it could use to secure its influence in Afghanistan and keep arch rival India out after an eventual US withdrawal.

Pakistan's fears of being outflanked by India, which has forged close ties to the Afghan government, are reflected in the document's indirect language about regional security issues, Pakistani officials say.

The paper said: The document raises concerns about India's effort to modernise its military, in part through buying US equipment and weapons. It urges Washington to take a direct role in reviving the peace process between India and Pakistan, which stalled after the November 2008 terror attacks on Mumbai. If officials this week can begin setting the US relationship with Pakistan on a footing of greater trust and military cooperation, it would mark a success for the Obama administration's foreign policy at a time when key relations with other nations, from ally Israel to nemesis Iran, are strained.

In response to the document, officials say the Pentagon is considering up to $500 million in additional military aid to Pakistan, paid through the Coalition Support Fund, an account used to reimburse Pakistan for military activities taken in support of the US operations in Afghanistan.

Pak wants N-deal
The focus of analysis of Pakistani attitude was its 56-page document whichDaily Times, a prominent E-Newspaper, described as "Pakistan's Wish-list". It said the 56-page document - set to be discussed during the talks in Washington - includes requests for more help in dealing with water and energy crises, greater cooperation between the ISI and US intelligence outfits, more helicopter gunships and other military hardware.

Pakistan also wants a civilian nuclear energy cooperation deal with the US, and a role in any future peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

Following talks with US lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the civilian government and the military had a "very clear plan" for what needed to be done. "We articulated that collectively ... what the Pakistani priorities are," said Qureshi.

Pentagon plays down the demand
The Pentagon played down the chance of any big announcement of fresh aid at the end of the talks, saying the dialogue would focus on the bolstering long-term bilateral ties.

"I would not look to this, at the end of it, for there to be some great announcement about any hard items that are being produced as a result of the conversations," Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters. "This is a dialogue designed to produce a better long-term strategic relationship ... this is not simply about asking and receiving items."

The News quoted WSJ story verbatim which reads like this: : Pakistan has sent a 56-page document to the US ahead of strategic talks scheduled for Wednesday, seeking expanded military and economic aid in what some American officials believe is an implicit offer to crack down in return on the Afghan Taliban.

In a report filed by Matthew Rosenberg and Peter Spiegel, the WSJ said this previously undisclosed document includes requests ranging from the US help to alleviate Pakistan's chronic water and power shortages to pleas for surveillance aircraft and support in developing the country's civilian nuclear program.

The report quotes US officials saying the document and the talks surrounding it could help redefine one of America's thorniest foreign policy relationships, if it leads to a serious Pakistani clampdown on the Taliban. The Taliban use Pakistan, a US ally, as their rear base in their fight against American and allied forces in neighboring Afghanistan, and has often relied on clandestine support from elements of Pakistan's national security establishment.

But in the past few months, Pakistan has rounded up several senior leaders of the Afghan Taliban on its soil, and last year it began a series of offensives against the Pakistan offshoot of the Afghan movement. US officials are keen to see those moves broadened as a key to shifting the momentum of the Afghan war. "Right now, we're looking at something that could deliver a big part of our success in Afghanistan," said a senior US military official speaking of the document and talks.

Talk aims to stitch together fraying alliance
The document outlines a range of aid Pakistan is seeking from the US, say American and Pakistani officials who have seen it or been briefed on its contents. A high-level meeting between senior Pakistani and US officials in Washington on Wednesday aims to stitch together their fraying alliance. Many of Pakistan's requests build on longstanding demands for more US assistance. But officials on both the sides say that by detailing them in a single comprehensive document, Islamabad is trying to signal its willingness to align its interests with those of Washington, its vision for a partnership and its price.

Among the requests is greater cooperation between its spy agency and US intelligence outfits, more gunship helicopters and other military hardware needed to battle its own Taliban insurgency, and improved surveillance technology, such as pilot-less drone aircraft.

Pakistan also wants a civilian nuclear energy cooperation deal with the US, and a role in any future peace talks between the Western-backed Afghan government and the Taliban. Many US officials remain wary of such deals with Pakistan. Since the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the US, Pakistan has received more than $17.5 billion in US aid, the majority earmarked for the military and security, while insisting it was doing all it could to combat the Taliban and its Islamist allies. US officials have complained that Pakistan's intelligence services continued to offer clandestine support for the Taliban, which it has long viewed as a proxy it could use to secure its influence in Afghanistan and keep arch rival India out after an eventual US withdrawal.

"Everything with the Pakistanis is two steps forward and one step back," said a senior US military official involved in talks with the Pakistanis. "Anybody who expects straight linear progress out of a strategic dialogue between these two nations is really kind of naive. What it will be is a step forward and then we'll see where they go with it."
Pakistan's fears of being outflanked by India, which has forged close ties to the Afghan government, are reflected in the document's indirect language about regional security issues, Pakistani officials say.

Revive peace process between India & Pak
The paper said: The document raises concerns about India's effort to modernise its military, in part through buying US equipment and weapons. It urges Washington to take a direct role in reviving the peace process between India and Pakistan, which stalled after the November 2008 terror attacks on Mumbai. If officials this week can begin setting the US relationship with Pakistan on a footing of greater trust and military cooperation, it would mark a success for the Obama administration's foreign policy at a time when key relations with other nations, from ally Israel to nemesis Iran, are strained.

Pentagon considering addition military aid
In response to the document, officials say the Pentagon is considering up to $500 million in additional military aid to Pakistan, paid through the Coalition Support Fund, an account used to reimburse Pakistan for military activities taken in support of the US operations in Afghanistan.

Last year, the US provided $2.8 billion in economic and security aid to Islamabad. A spokesman for Pakistan's military, Maj Gen Athar Abbas, confirmed to the WSJ the document's existence and the military's input, but he declined to discuss its contents.
Aides to Adm Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Pentagon's primary interlocutor with Pakistan's military leadership, confirmed his staff had received the document and were analysing it.

Michael Hammer, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said the White House looked forward to this week's talks, but would not comment on any specific proposals made during meetings between "scores" of senior US officials and Pakistani counterparts over the last year.

"During the course of those discussions, a considerable number of ideas, initiatives and opportunities have been brought up by both the sides," Hammer said. "We are not prepared to comment on any one set of ideas other than to say that we are encouraged by an open and robust dialogue."

The document comes out of months of delicate and often secret negotiations between top political and military officials from both the countries, which will continue on Wednesday at a so-called Strategic Dialogue in Washington.

The meeting is to cover issues from the fight against Islamist militants to bolstering Pakistan's struggling economy. Among officials slated to attend are Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Gen Ashfaq Kayani, the head of Pakistan Army.

"Pakistan and the United States have been partners and allies without always having a complete understanding of each other's strategic and security priorities," said Pakistan's Ambassador in Washington Husain Haqqani in a telephone interview. "This time we want to build an understanding that can serve as a foundation for the day-to-day relationship."

The senior US military official involved in recent talks with Pakistani officials, including Gen Kayani, said the new seriousness in Pakistan's approach seems to be part of a realisation that the US has a limited timeframe for directly assisting Islamabad.
The official said Gen Kayani in recent talks has focused on getting US assistance to efforts that the Afghan and Pakistani governments can sustain as US forces and investment in Afghanistan wane. Some of Pakistan's requests are likely non-starters.

N-deal would be tough
India has steadfastly refused any outside mediation in its decades-long dispute with Pakistan. And US officials say a civilian nuclear deal would be a tough sell given Pakistan's history of nuclear weapons proliferation.

To assuage the Pakistanis, the State Department has suggested setting up a bilateral working group to discuss the issue, in essence pushing a decision into the distant future. But US officials, especially those in the Pentagon, are eager to encourage Pakistan's re-engagement after nearly two years of growing tension between the allies, and say many of the other requests may be doable.

The US may, for example, be willing to give Pakistan drone aircraft, although not the high-end, armed Predator and Reaper drones that have been used by the Central Intelligence Agency to kill hundreds of militants in Pakistan's tribal areas, according to a US official.

The official said Pakistan already gets a few hours a week of surveillance time on those drones, and they're often "not looking at the same targets we'd necessarily want to be looking at." "We want the US to recognise Pakistan's nuclear status and give us assurances not to undermine the [weapons] program," said a senior Pakistani military officer who serves as an aide to Gen Kayani. "Energy security is crucial, and we need US help."

Among the proposals the Pentagon is considering asking Pakistan to allow the US to support expanded Pakistani counter-terrorism efforts within their country.

Currently, about 150 US Special Operations forces are in Pakistan training the Pakistani military in counterinsurgency tactics. In addition, the US may press the Pakistani government to end what they view as a negative information campaign against the US by elements of Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency, the Inter-Service Intelligence directorate.