US Secretary of State to visit Pakistan next Week
Pakistan Times Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due to visit Pakistan in mid-March, an official said on Saturday.

Rice is expected in Islamabad on March-17, a senior official of the Foreign Ministry said, but declined to comment further on her engagements.

The US Senate last year approved a 388-million-dollar budget, which includes military aid to Pakistan and its war-torn neighbour Afghanistan.

The allocation is designed to bolster the capabilities of Pakistan’s armed forces in hunting down suspected Al-Qaeda members along the rugged Afghan-Pakistan border.

Pakistan, which was given major non-NATO status for it support of the war on terror, has already captured around 600 alleged Al Qaeda supporters.

Recap

The approval of the military aid follows notification by US defence officials of a possible 1.3-billion-dollar arms package for Pakistan.

It would be the largest sale of military hardware to Pakistan since sanctions against Islamabad were lifted in late 2001 for supporting US forces fighting Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan following the September-11 attacks on the United States.●