Pakistan does some US dirty work (builds Humvees for use in Afghanistan)

[FarCenter]

KARACHI - Pakistan's seven-year association with the United States' "war on terror" has moved to a new and dangerous level: the US has given it a contract to build 1,000 Humvees for use by troops in Afghanistan against the Taliban-led insurgency.

The fact that Pakistan is now providing the hardware for the "war on terror" is a highly sensitive issue, given the already inflammatory situation that exists in the country over Islamabad siding with Washington in this fight against terrorism.

Asia Times Online has learned that Pakistan's Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) has been given the order for an undisclosed sum for the Humvees - high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles. HIT, located 35 kilometers to the west of the capital Islamabad, is the leading engineering and manufacturing center for the armed forces in Pakistan, with a workforce of over 6,000.

Work on the Humvees has already begun, although the task is being undertaken in secret. HIT has the capabilities to build main battle tanks, armored recovery vehicles, armored personnel carriers and other military equipment. Humvees are currently produced by AM General, an American heavy vehicle manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana.

According to contacts at the plant who spoke to ATol, the Humvees are just the first of many orders to come for the manufacture of armaments for use in Afghanistan.

...

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JJ18Df01.html

[Historic NY]

1. More American jobs sent overseas.

[geckosfeet]

2. More jobs sent to Pakistan. But in all fairness, if you want to win a war

you must shorten supply lines. If Afghanistan is where we are going to focus, this makes some sense. If we are going to transition this morass over to Pakistan and Afghanistan this makes sense. The difficulty will come when these heavily armed vehicles start falling into the wrong hands. That should happen on cue, in about 4 months.

[FarCenter]

3. They have too poor mileage for use by insurgents

Insurgents around the world seem to prefer the Toyota pickup.