Pakistan receives almost $100 million per month, on account
of logistics support, it provided to the US troops in the
war against terrorism.
According to a half yearly
review report of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) released
here on Sunday, the logistics support payments increased
by 83.3 per cent during July-December 2003 to total $581
million or about $97 million a month.
Pakistan and the United
States signed an acquisition and cross servicing agreement
(ACSA) in early 2002 to facilitate reciprocal provision
of logistics support and services between the two armed
forces, to be used primarily during combined exercising,
training, deployments, operations or other cooperative
efforts. Items permitted under the ACSA include food,
water, transportation, POL, communications and medical
services and also covers use of facilities, training services,
repairs and maintenance etc.
In addition to normal billing
of fuel, water and communication charges, the government
also charges for the facilities, like airbases, storages
etc., it offered to US forces in the region.
The agreement was mainly
concluded to formalise the arrangement of logistical support
offered to the US forces in Afghanistan. Pakistan furnishes
monthly bills to the United States in this regard, and
the United States pays these charges out of its defence
allocations. The billing varies depending on the usage
and consumption pattern in a given month. Initially, the
government hoped a payment of around $60-75 million a
month, but recent upsurge indicates heightened activity
of the US troops in the region.
Last year, a report of
the US Central Command detailed this logistical support
in the operation enduring freedom (OEF), saying Pakistan
provided five air bases/airfields, and in emergency landing
rights for planes anywhere in Pakistan.
On the average 0.4 million
liters of fuel per day was provided to the US forces as
well as all other services on the bases used by them.
"A total of 57,800 sorties have been generated from
Pakistan’s air space/soil," the report said.
In order to facilitate
launching of air operations into Afghanistan, Pakistan
provided 2/3 of its air space as air corridor to the US/coalition
forces. By so doing, Pakistan had to reschedule/redirect
many of the commercial flights. The Pakistan Navy also
provided landing facility to the US/coalition ships at
Pasni. At sea, Pakistan Navy operations/training were
curtailed in order to accommodate and facilitate the operations
of US/coalition naval forces. The Naval Operations at
Pasni were the largest operations in size, duration and
depth that the US Marine Corps had conducted since the
Korean War.
Pakistan also apprehended
more than 550 most wanted men in the US-led war against
terrorism, including the most wanted al-Qaeda figures,
Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, Abu-Zubaida and Ramzi bin Al-Shaiba.
Pakistan has also launched a massive operation in the
Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
Pakistani forces with the
help of FC penetrated the tribal areas soon after the
first US strikes in the Tora Bora valley in Afghanistan
just across the border, particularly focusing on Waziristan,
Miran Shah and Wana.
The Centcom report also
estimated a loss of over $10 billion since October 2001
to Pakistan due to its support to the OEF. The United
States offered Pakistan compensation in the shape of direct
grants and debt write-offs, and support in the shape of
debt rescheduling agreement and new concessional multilateral
loans.
The ADB report has reviewed
the current economic situation very positively with its
expectations of GDP growth rate of 5.5 per cent, with
a stable inflation at around 4.2 per cent, despite a recent
up-tick since October 2003.
The ADB hopes the rapid
growth trends in the industrial sector to continue. The
Bank indicated that more than half of Rs 225 billion private
sector credit off-take has gone to the manufacturing sector.
On the fiscal side, the report says something unprecedented
happened during the second quarter of the current fiscal
year, as the budget posted a surplus of Rs 7.2 billion,
lowering the half yearly deficit to just 0.9 per cent
of GDP.
The government also shifted
its reliance on the national savings schemes for budget
deficit financing to the Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs)
that offered a much lower rate of return.
