The United States has not refused Pakistan’s request for excess defence articles (EDA) from its “worldwide pool” said the State Department while citing Washington’s continued security cooperation with Pakistan.
“To be clear, the United States has not refused Pakistan’s request regarding EDA sourced from the worldwide pool – to include any request that might involve mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles (MRAPs),” office of the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson’s remarks came in response to a series of questions raised at the daily briefing about reports on possible provision of MRAPs to Pakistan.
The spokesperson noted that the United States “continues to assist Pakistan through many security cooperation programmes to build partnership capacity, including through the provision of worldwide available EDA.”
However, the spokesperson also added: “We note, we have not and do not intend to transfer EDA from Afghanistan to any of its neighbouring countries, including Pakistan.”
Military equipment that has been determined to be excess can be made available through the worldwide excess defence articles (EDA) programme, which is open to all eligible countries, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, the spokesperson explained.
Since Pakistan shares a border with Afghanistan, it would have been expedient to simply drive the vehicles over, across the border. However, transporting the same from locations all over the world would incur heavy financial costs for Pakistan effectively derailing the project.
