Not Our War...Not Quite Official

Another Durrani - Mahmud Ali, LoP's Ambassador to US, speaks of milking the Americans, who apparently are frustrated that they aren't seeing much return, in terms of terror fighting, for their $11 billion post-September 11 investment.

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"It says, 'We don't trust you,' " said Durrani, the Pakistani ambassador. "We need more night-vision equipment, but every three months you withdraw what we have. This is what happens when bureaucrats dictate policy."

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These expensive $6000 night-vision goggles are part aid to LoP army to fight the nonexisting terrorists in NWFP.

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Advanced night-vision equipment of the type provided to Pakistan -- which amplifies tiny amounts of infrared light to spot people, equipment and other heat sources -- has been used by American GIs for more than a decade. But when President Pervez Musharraf's government requested them in 2002 and 2003 for use against insurgents fleeing across the border from Afghanistan, U.S. officials initially voiced serious reservations. Eventually, after the accounting procedures were put in place, Washington provided more than 1,600 to Pakistani forces, according to figures compiled by Alan Kronstadt, a South Asia specialist with the Congressional Research Service. Pakistan was allowed to purchase about 300 from a U.S. contractor, and the rest -- about 1,300 pairs of goggles valued at $6.4 million -- were provided without charge by the Defense and State departments, Kronstadt said. A small number were also provided to Pakistan by U.S. intelligence agencies, said U.S. officials and independent experts. The Pentagon's monitoring is conducted under a special program -- EUM, or Enhanced End-Use Monitoring -- that allows U.S. officials in Pakistan to check all the serial numbers every three months.[U.S. and Pakistan: A Frayed Alliance - WaPo]

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I guess soon we should expect these goggles and other equipment to vanish from the western front and land on the eastern front - where the real enemy lays. Putting one and one together, it's may be only a matter of time before the golden goose is slain.