Thaw: Canada and the Pak military

Starting to do our bit (though I doubt any thaw can survive a military coup, given Canadian politics):

1) Officering:

Canada resumes military training program with Pakistan: MacKay

Canada will resume an officer-training program with Pakistan's military that has been suspended for more than a decade, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Tuesday.

Canada severed its military-to-military relations with Pakistan in 1998 when the South Asian country conducted its first nuclear tests. MacKay said the program may resume by fall.

"It would be more like an officer-exchange program," he said in an interview.

"So, not so much in terms of us training their officers here, but at a staff college level [emphasis added] where you would have seminars and lectures that could occur."

The defence minister is in Islamabad for talks with his counterpart Ahmad Mukhtar and other government officials.

The meeting came just days after MacKay said instability was making Pakistan perhaps the most dangerous country in the world.

The Canadian government has long expressed concern about Taliban activity in northwestern Pakistan, along the border with neighbouring Afghanistan where more than 2,700 Canadian troops are deployed.

The unrest has spilled over into Pakistan as the country battles a growing insurgency by Islamist militants with links to al-Qaida and the Taliban.

The fighting in nuclear-armed Pakistan has heightened tensions around the world.

Last week, Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there was evidence Pakistan was adding to its nuclear weapons systems and warheads [emphasis added].

MacKay said Mukhtar did not confirm reports Pakistan was expanding its nuclear arsenal, thought to be more than 60 nuclear weapons.

"There was no confirmation that I heard today that they were, in fact, adding nuclear weapons to their arsenal," he said.

MacKay added that he encouraged Pakistan to move away from nuclear proliferation...

2) Selling:

Canada eyes arms sales to Pakistan
MacKay talks of lifting embargo on military gear as war on Taliban overshadows nuclear misdeeds

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 [emphasis added--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...

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 [emphasis added]...

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. [the latter willl sure help with counter-insurgency--how PC; I'd go with the Canadian Forces College, first link of the two immediately preceding], or similar military courses.

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