Pakistan and the United States moved closer to a billion dollar defense deal this week, after US authorities notified Congress of a proposal to supply helicopters and missiles to sharpen up Pakistan’s counter-terrorism efforts.
US ally Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation of 180 million people, is fighting a Taliban insurgency in its northwest, a separatist insurgency along its Iranian border in the west, and has a heavily militarised and disputed border with arch rival India in the east.
The $952m proposal involves the United States supplying Pakistan with 15 AH-1Z attack helicopters, 1,000 Hellfire missiles, engines, targeting and positioning systems and other equipment. But negotiations are not complete.
