statism watch

And why not? There’s some killing to be done, to judge by the war drums being beaten over the Pashtun tribal areas, and we wouldn’t want to be cut out of that action. (Would we?)

Flashback: MacKay to discuss security concerns with Pakistan | Swiss nuclear-smuggling suspect says CIA made him do it | U.S. Arms Sales Climbing Rapidly | Russia: US delivering weapons to Georgia under cover of humanitarian aid | CIA, Pakistani ISI have long, complicated relationship | ‘What is it they’re trying to hide?’ NDP asks for military export data

Rick Westhead, Toronto Star
May 20, 2009

MacKay talks of lifting embargo on military gear as war on Taliban overshadows nuclear misdeeds

ISLAMABAD–Canada is considering ending its 11-year embargo on the sale of military technology to a nuclear-armed Pakistan, Defence Minister Peter MacKay says.

The development comes as Pakistan’s army prepares to take its fight against Taliban militants into the tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

In a telephone interview from Islamabad, MacKay, who recently called Pakistan the “most dangerous country in the world,” said he’s impressed with Pakistan’s resolve in taking on the Taliban.

“Doing military business in the future, and trade in particular, is something that is under consideration,” MacKay said after meeting with Pakistani President Asif Zardari.

However, he added, “We’re not there yet.”

Canada cut off military supplies to Pakistan in 1998 after it conducted a nuclear weapons test in response to one carried out by neighbouring India.

Concern over Pakistan’s illegal and surreptitious move into the nuclear arms club was underlined by news that one of its leading physicists, A.Q. Khan, had sold nuclear secrets in the 1990s to such countries as North Korea and Libya.

That contributed to the continuation of Canada’s military embargo and prompted similar actions from other Western countries.

Kamran Bokhari, of the global intelligence firm Stratfor, says “Pakistan has used the situation in Swat (where it is battling the Taliban) skilfully. It has been saying, ‘If you want us to get the job done you have to give us the tools.’ It makes perfect sense for Canada, with troops in Kandahar, to do what it takes.”

But experts warn Pakistan continues to be a volatile country.

Its nuclear facilities are spread out in secret places around the country; its fight with the Taliban is forcing hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee the Swat Valley; the war in neighbouring Afghanistan is spilling over the border; and there remains uncertainty that Zardari is in full control, particularly over the country’s nuclear arms. All these factors contribute to the sense of Pakistan’s instability.

MacKay says Pakistan is doing its best to eradicate the Taliban.

“They are certainly a government that’s taking control of this situation,” MacKay told the Star. “Quite frankly, this is what the international community, including Canada, had been asking them to do all along.”

Pakistan would like the chance to purchase Canadian products such as flight simulators, night-vision goggles and unmanned drones.

As Pakistani soldiers continued to pound Taliban fighters yesterday in towns in the Swat region, some 100 kilometres from the capital, MacKay said Canada would consider requests from Pakistan to buy Canadian military products.

“It would be hard to envision Canada (lifting the embargo) without getting the Americans to sign off on it,” said Bokhari.

“The U.S. wants to keep up the pressure on Pakistan, but it doesn’t want it to sink in the process. This way every side would get something.”

Hilary Homes, a campaigner for Amnesty International in Canada, said the organization “has very serious concerns about the human rights situation in Pakistan, including the conduct of security forces, so we would be concerned about any transfer of military or security equipment of any kind.”

One Western diplomat said if Canada decides to end its arms embargo with Pakistan “there’s the concern over whether Canadian-made weapons could be used for human-rights abuses and there’s the concern that they could end in the wrong hands.”

While some American lawmakers accuse Zardari’s government of corruption and ineffectiveness, the U.S. has pledged nearly $3 billion a year for anti-insurgency military aid over the next five years, on top of $1.5 billion in non-military aid.

Yesterday, the U.S. offered Pakistan $110 million to help the thousands of civilians driven from their homes by fighting.

The White House said $100 million would be for humanitarian aid such as food, tents, radios, generators and other items and that the U.S. Defence Department would give a further $10 million in unspecified assistance.

MacKay said he has urged Pakistan to be mindful of civilian casualties, which could “quickly turn the population against these operations.

“Let’s be frank, there is an insidious nature in what the Taliban, and terrorists in other conflicts, have done in putting themselves in positions knowing full well civilians would be affected,” he said.

MacKay also said Canada will restart a training program for Pakistani officers that was also shelved after Pakistan’s 1998 nuclear test.

As many as 10 senior Pakistani officers a year would be eligible to attend the Canadian military’s staff college or the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre in Cornwallis, N.S., or similar military courses.

“Isolation has not worked,” MacKay said. “There was great interest to reconnect.”

The training program could represent a coup for Canada, said a source at the U.S. State Department. Like Canada, the U.S. stopped Pakistani officers from attending similar courses in America after Pakistan’s nuclear test.

“One of the biggest challenges now is understanding the personalities of Pakistan’s up-and-coming senior officers,” said the state department source.

“When we had their soldiers over for training at Fort Leavenworth and other bases, you had the chance to get to know them a bit. That really helps because in Pakistan, it’s the military that really runs the country. There’s been a vacuum there the past 11 years on getting to personally know the people who are rising up the ranks in Pakistan.”

Source | See also under Pakistan: MacKay to discuss security concerns with Pakistan | Caught in the crossfire – the Swat valley’s fleeing families | CIA: Our Drones are Killing Terrorists. Promise. | 500,000 fleeing Pakistani airstrikes, fighting, UN reports | Pakistan is ‘abdicating to the Taliban,’ says Clinton | Mumbai attacks suspect alleges torture, retracts confession | US military may escalate ‘war on terror’ by striking deeper into Pakistan | Pakistan restores outspoken judge | Pakistani police attack opposition march for independent judiciary | Not very cricket: Witnesses report Pakistani security abandoned convoy prior to attack | Pakistani officers helped plan Mumbai attacks, says India | Report: CIA runs secret bases in Pakistan | Indian Mumbai dossier details gunmen’s calls with handlers | India to create national spy agency in wake of Mumbai attacks | Former ISI Chief: Mumbai And 9/11 Both “Inside Jobs” | Indian Intelligence Provided SIM Cards to Mumbai Gunmen | Mumbai Attacks Politicize Long-Isolated Elite | Mumbai terror attacks: Rice calls for ‘total transparency’ from Pakistan | CIA Foreknowledge of the Mumbai Attacks | “Fair-skinned, blonde” assailants began attack in Mumbai | Mumbai Attacks Blamed On Al-Qaeda As Pretext For U.S. Military Response | Terror strikes Mumbai | Don’t-ask-don’t-tell Policy: Pakistan and U.S. Have Tacit Deal On Airstrikes | Death toll climbs after U.S. air strike in Pakistan | US Incursion Turned Back by Pakistan Army | Bush secret order to send special forces into Pakistan | Pakistan fury over ‘US assault’ | Musharraf resigns as Pakistan president | Key Benazir Bhutto assassination witness shot dead | CIA, Pakistani ISI have long, complicated relationship | U.S. Intel Officer: Al Qaeda Leadership Allowed To Operate Freely in Pakistan | Afghanistan suggests Pakistan responsible for embassy bombing | Bhutto report: Musharraf planned to fix elections | Video: ‘The most conclusive evidence’ Bhutto was shot | Police abandoned security posts before Bhutto assassination | Bhutto assassinated | Benazir Bhutto: Bin Laden Murdered | Terror accused refuses to discuss links to Pakistan secret service, family threatened | London terror plotter was ‘hardened’ in ISI camp | US Allowed Taliban, Al-Qaeda Airlift Evacuation

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