Military hardware only for defensive use, says Pak

Pakistan has assured the US administration that American military hardware provided to it will be used solely for defensive purposes, a top US official said on Friday.

David Sedney, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, made the remarks during an interaction with the Pakistani media. He was responding to a question on whether the US had sought an assurance from Pakistan that American military hardware would not be used against India.

Sedney, who is visiting Pakistan with a high-level delegation for a meeting of a bilateral defence working group, did not specify the level at which the assurance had been given by Pakistan. In recent months, the US has provided Pakistan with a wide array of weapons and hardware, including F-16 combat jets, utility helicopters, P3C Orion maritime surveillance aircraft and a frigate, as part of the ongoing military cooperation between the two countries.

India has repeatedly expressed concerns that the American weapon systems and hardware can be used against it by Pakistan. Sedney said Pakistan faced a range of threats and extremism is one of them. He indicated that the hardware provided by the US was meant to help Pakistan's fight against terrorism and extremism.

The American official acknowledged that Washington and Islamabad had differences on the threat perceptions confronting Pakistan but did not give details. Pakistan had given a list of its threat perceptions and the US had shared its views in this regard, he said. The two countries are working to identify the common or overlapping areas so that they can cooperate in these fields, Sedney said.