26 March 2010
At a press briefing at thePakistan Embassy in Washington, Pakistan’s Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said that the military was willing to relinquish its requests for hardware to ensure that Pakistan’s energy and economic needs were fulfilled. “I told Senator John Kerry and Senator Richard Lugar that in order to make sure that Pakistan’s economy and energy needs are met, we are willing to forgo the military equipment that we have asked for.”
Identifying Pakistan’s economic and energy crises as a top priority during the two-day strategic dialogue, General Kayani said, “The most important concerns for Pakistan today are economy and energy and we have emphasised that with the American administration that these are the needs that need to be met.”
General Kayani further stated that there had been a marked change in the US attitude towards Pakistan because of the army’s success in South Waziristan and Swat.
