Washington and Islamabad will keep up joint military operations along the border with Afghanistan despite the turmoil rocking Pakistan, US defence officials said Monday. "As far as I know, with respect to our borders operations co-ordination, our military operations, that continues. That said, I wouldn't want to speculate for the future," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.
"We are reviewing all of our assistance programs, but we need to be mindful not to hurt the counter-terrorism relations," he added, repeating the same message given by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates earlier Monday during a visit to Beijing.
Washington warned on Monday that ties between the two countries would not remain the same unless Musharraf reverses course on the state of emergency and steers Pakistan back to democracy. Whitman did not specify which aid programs were under review.
Funding for Pakistan's operations under operation Enduring Freedom represent "about 80 million dollars a month," he said. "So far 5.3 billions have been repaid to Pakistan" since the beginning of the operation.
Islamabad also benefits from sales of American arms, Whitman said, adding that in 2006 the US Congress approved the sale of 36 F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, although he was unsure if they have arrived yet.