It is good to remember that the war on religious terrorism is being pursued on multiple fronts. From the beginning, Pakistan has officially sided with the United States despite a strong internal opposition that supports fundamentalist Islam. The Pakistani Military is not a collection of Saints, but they have decisively acted with the conviction that their future is better serving along side the US rather than serving with the Jihad.
Pakistan Requests 115 Self Propelled Howitzers: The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Pakistan of 115 M109A5 155mm self-propelled howitzers as well as spare and repair parts, support and test equipment, publications and technical documentation, personnel training and training equipment, Quality Assurance Team, U.S. Government logistics personnel services, and other related elements of logistics support. This equipment is considered 'long supply' and is no longer utilized by the U.S. Government.Pakistan has borders with Iran, Afghanistan, China and India so it is worth pointing out that the expressed desire for 115 shoot and scoot cannons is to improve border defense.
Department of Defense New Release: Pakistan will use these howitzers to improve its current fleet of ground defense equipment. The proposed equipment will assist Pakistan in improving its internal command and control of the mountain range bordering its county. Pakistan will have no difficulty absorbing the howitzers into its armed forces.I find it highly unlikely that the US response to any act of nuclear terrorism will be nuclear retaliation. It is more likely to be precision targeting of essential infrastructure followed by some level of ground control by sympathetic allies.
