Upping the US Military Ante in Pakistan

By anderson

Things are getting weirder and more entangled by the day in Pakistan, as the US military presses the front of its increasing footprint in Pakistan. And news that the US is expanding its Pakistan presence with a base outside Islamabad cannot be viewed as separate and apart from the recent financial snub Pakistan received from China over a request for an emergency capital infusion.

Asia Times reports that Pakistani arms manufacturer, Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT), has been contracted to build 1000 Humvees for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Production is apparently already underway.

KARACHI - Pakistan's seven-year association with the United States' "war on terror" has moved to a new and dangerous level: the US has given it a contract to build 1,000 Humvees for use by troops in Afghanistan against the Taliban-led insurgency.

The fact that Pakistan is now providing the hardware for the "war on terror" is a highly sensitive issue, given the already inflammatory situation that exists in the country over Islamabad siding with Washington in this fight against terrorism.

Asia Times Online has learned that Pakistan's Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) has been given the order for an undisclosed sum for the Humvees - high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles. HIT, located 35 kilometers to the west of the capital Islamabad, is theleading engineering and manufacturing center for the armed forces in Pakistan, with a workforce of over 6,000.

Work on the Humvees has already begun, although the task is being undertaken in secret. HIT has the capabilities to build main battle tanks, armored recovery vehicles, armored personnel carriers and other military equipment. Humvees are currently produced by AM General, an American heavy vehicle manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana.

No doubt this agreement has been reached in part to assuage -- or buy off, if you prefer -- Pakistani concerns about escalating US presence in a military base at Tarbella, 20 km from Islamabad. While claiming that US personnel will be there for "training" purposes, the base had been used by the CIA in 1990's and vacated after the Musharraf coup in 1999.

the US has bought a huge plot of land at Tarbella, several square kilometers, according to sources directly handling the project. Recently, 20 large containers arrived at the facility. They were handled by the Americans, who did not allow any Pakistani officials to inspect them.

Given the size of the containers, it is believed they contain special arms and ammunition and even tanks and armored vehicles - and certainly have nothing to do with any training program.

There is little doubt in the minds of those familiar with the American activities at Tarbella that preparations are being made for an all-out offensive in North-West Frontier Province against sanctuaries belonging to the Taliban and al-Qaeda led by bin Laden. Pakistani security sources maintain more American troops will arrive in the coming days.

Indeed, with local production of military hardware, US military presence in Pakistan is destined to grow, and with it, more strife, war and killing. It seems unlikely that jobs producing American weaponry is a ticket that will soothe the larger, savage breast that a US military presence in Pakistan has, or is about to unleash.

Comments

[Steve Hynd]

Ken, it's probably worth noting in your post that H.I.Taxila is a wholey-owned subsiduary of the Pakistani military and is part of the same three-compound complex that manufactures and stores Pakistan's nukes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_Industries_Taxila

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/pakistan/taxila.htm

Regards, C

[PHK]

What's the quid-pro-quo for the US?

[Russ Wellen]

I hadn't connected the Humvee contract, which I'd heard about, and the base outside Islamabad with the China snub. (I'm kind of thick that way.)

[anderson]

"What's the quid-pro-quo for the US?"

I would suspect it would be multi-fold: less hassle about air strikes and military ops in Pakistan in general, which winds into actual US military presence right near Islamabad. I doubt the Chinese are happy about that. After all, Pakistan and China are supposed to be BFF after the India nuke deal.

Indeed, have we not seen a notable lack of rhetoric about Pakistani sovereignty and Islamabad's previous strong statements about cross border US military attacks? I was wondering why that had toned down, and this may be, at least in part, one of the reasons.