By IANS,
Islamabad : The US favours civilian control of Pakistan’s spy agencies, including those of the military, the country’s political leadership has been informed.
“US Mission Pakistan”, a document prepared by the American embassy here, defines Washington’s goals as: “To strengthen a long-term, multi-dimensional US-Pakistan relationship; support the new coalition government; support civilian control of military and intelligence operations, including budgets; combat extremism that threatens US and Pakistan; and assist economic development to improve the lives of the Pakistani people.”
Pakistan has three main spy agencies: Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence (MI) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB). All of them are headed by officers of the Pakistan Army.
Quoting from the US document, The News said Saturday that it had been distributed to the leaders of different political parties, including those in the ruling coalition.
Speaking about the assistance provided in the area of law enforcement, the document says that the US government has trained over 6,500 law enforcement personnel through over 1,000 courses in 2007 alone.
The courses were conducted in the US, Pakistan and other countries and included subjects like post-blast investigation, anti-terrorism VIP protection, police management, investigative enhancement, academy development, civil disturbance management, and recognition of explosives.
The FBI has also offered investigative, forensic and laboratory assistance for counterterrorism cases to help identify the sources and methods of attack on Pakistani citizens, the document says.
The document points to the provision of $5 billion worth of equipment including Cobra helicopters, night vision goggles, TOW missiles and radios for the Pakistan Army; P3 aircraft and Harpoon missiles for the Pakistan Navy; and 18 F-16 fighters, six C-130 transports and radars for the Pakistan Air Force.
The assistance also included financing of $300 million per year for 2005-09. This apart, $14 million was spent on education and training of 761 students in 2002-08 while $3.8 would be spent on 200 students in 2009-10.