Lahore, Sep 20 (ANI): A long-delayed plan to send dozens of US military advisers to Pakistan to train the Pakistani Army in counter-insurgency could begin in a matter of weeks on a training base north of Peshawar under a new agreement.
The Los Angeles Times quoted Joint Chiefs Chairman Michael Mullen as saying that the US and Pakistan had cleared the remaining obstacles to the arrival of the advisers.
Washington has been urging the Pakistani military to accept the training team for months, the report said. However, Pakistan has resisted such advice, and asked for additional weaponry and equipment that the paper said "some US officials believe is best suited for its standoff with regional rival India".
Mullen said in an interview that the primary stumbling block had been the fact that Pakistan could not build the training site, near Peshawar, quickly enough, and the two sides had now agreed to use an alternative base north of the capital.
"We're still going through some administrative delays, but I do see it happening. I think it's in the next few weeks," Mullen was quoted as saying.
Mullen said he had made his latest visit to Pakistan because of accusations that the US had violated Pakistan's sovereignty in a raid this month near the Afghan border.
The attacks made Pakistani officials issue a warning that they might open fire on foreign troops crossing into Pakistani territory.
Mullen believed Pakistani officials were insisting on their right "to defend their country, which I understand, which anybody understands", the paper said. (ANI)
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