Islamabad: In a significant development, Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday said the US is considering the supply of unarmed versions of spy planes to Pakistan as part of the military partnership between the two countries.
Gates, who is visiting Islamabad for a strategic dialogue on the link between security in Afghanistan and Pakistan, said the US could provide Pakistan aircraft and drones for intelligence-gathering and surveillance purposes.
"We are in partnership with the Pakistani military and we are working to make available to them their own intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance vehicles, both aircraft and drones. There are some tactical UAVs that we are considering," he said during an interview with a private Television news channel.
The Pakistan government, which has opposed US drone attacks in its tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, had been pressing the American administration to provide it unmanned aerial vehicle technology so that its armed forces could carry out attacks on Taliban fighters.
Till now, the US had refused to provide drones or UAV technology to Pakistan, which has a small number of indigenously developed spy planes.
Replying to a question on whether the Pakistani leadership had conveyed their "discomfort" over drone strikes to him, Gates said: "I won t discuss operations. I will say that these unmanned aerial vehicles have been extremely useful to us both in Iraq and in Afghanistan. They have a lot of capability. I have put a lot of money into the budget for them."
Both President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have been insisting that the US should provide drone technology so that Pakistan can take ownership of the attacks on Taliban fighters in the tribal belt.
They have also told visiting American leaders and lawmakers in recent weeks that the drone strikes are fuelling anti-US sentiments. The US has steadfastly refused to acknowledge that it has carried out dozens of drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed in one such strike in August last year. There have been 11 drone attacks so far this year and security officials have said Baitullah Mehsud s successor Hakimullah Mehsud had a narrow escape in one of them.
The Pakistan government has also described the US drone attacks as a violation of its sovereignty and said they cause considerable collateral damage as several women and children have been killed by the UAVs.
Comments
0 comment