Acquiring mine-resistant vehicles
If Pakistan is better able to fight insurgents on its soil, this is a positive contribution towards regional stability
It should be clear that our request to acquire such equipment is to ensure better safety of our troops in our counterterrorism and counterinsurgency efforts. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
As can be expected, anything related to Pakistan coming out of Afghanistan does not usually fare well nor squares well. Take, for instance, Pakistan’s bid to acquire the excess US military hardware in Afghanistan that will prove too expensive to ship back across continents. The proposition has faced stiff resistance in Kabul either due to Karzai’s insecurity or outright hostility towards Islamabad.
It is being suggested by those across the border that a potential deal to sell US military hardware to Pakistan may have negative regional security implications. However, such claims are certainly unwarranted. We know that the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles could be highly effective in protecting security forces from IEDs. Their efficacy was proved in protecting US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and as is, Pakistan had been previously supplied with 22 MRAPs under the now defunct US State Department’s Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund. It should be clear that our request to acquire such equipment is to ensure better safety of our troops in our counterterrorism and counterinsurgency efforts. Suspicion that such hardware will be used against Afghanistan or hurt its interests is unfounded. If Pakistan is better able to fight insurgents on its soil, this is a positive contribution towards regional stability, not the other way round.
Roadside bombs have the potential to deliver serious blows and hinder the movement of our troops. Despite these genuine concerns, the US has succumbed to Afghan pressure and the US Embassy in Islamabad issued a statement last month that Pakistan’s request expressing interest in buying the used equipment, will not be serviced by the equipment being sold out of Afghanistan. However, the US has rejected the Afghan argument that a deal would alter the region’s strategic dynamic. It is unfortunate that the Afghans felt the need for such an opposition and we hope that such notions will continue to be firmly dismissed.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 14th, 2014.
It is being suggested by those across the border that a potential deal to sell US military hardware to Pakistan may have negative regional security implications. However, such claims are certainly unwarranted. We know that the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles could be highly effective in protecting security forces from IEDs. Their efficacy was proved in protecting US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and as is, Pakistan had been previously supplied with 22 MRAPs under the now defunct US State Department’s Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund. It should be clear that our request to acquire such equipment is to ensure better safety of our troops in our counterterrorism and counterinsurgency efforts. Suspicion that such hardware will be used against Afghanistan or hurt its interests is unfounded. If Pakistan is better able to fight insurgents on its soil, this is a positive contribution towards regional stability, not the other way round.
Roadside bombs have the potential to deliver serious blows and hinder the movement of our troops. Despite these genuine concerns, the US has succumbed to Afghan pressure and the US Embassy in Islamabad issued a statement last month that Pakistan’s request expressing interest in buying the used equipment, will not be serviced by the equipment being sold out of Afghanistan. However, the US has rejected the Afghan argument that a deal would alter the region’s strategic dynamic. It is unfortunate that the Afghans felt the need for such an opposition and we hope that such notions will continue to be firmly dismissed.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 14th, 2014.