This is probably a first salvo against BNP/Jamat to make sure no Osama friends get free food and lodging to start another menace in South Asia. I think the concerned parties got the message!
--- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, Isha Khan <bdmailer@...> wrote:
>
> *Dhaka under pressure to sign US military co-op deal*
>
>
>
>
> Dhaka is under pressure from Washington to sign a military cooperation deal
> aimed at enhancing the rapid deployment capability of the US forces far
> away from their bases, officials said on Wednesday.
>
> The proposed deal called the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement was
> first put forward by the United States to Bangladesh's Armed Forces
> Division in 2006. But there has been no significant development in the
> following years as Dhaka showed less interest in the deal.
>
> The US embassy in Dhaka has intensified its diplomatic efforts since 2011
> to make the Armed Forces Division agree to sign the proposed
> deal.According to a US news release issued on April 24, the United
> States is
> aware of a plan of Bangladesh on military modernisation.
>
> The US assistant secretary for Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Andrew
> J Shapiro, at Carnegie Endowment Roundtable discussion in Washington on
> April 24 said, `The modernisation efforts provide an opportunity for us to
> expand our security cooperation, especially through our Excess Defence
> Articles programme, which makes US equipment that is surplus to our
> requirements available to our partners.' Shapiro, who led an 11-member US
> delegation to a dialogue in Dhaka on April 19, also discussed the potential
> for US security cooperation with India and Bangladesh.
>
> The recent visit by the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, in the
> capital expedited the US efforts.
> A team of US military officials is scheduled to visit the capital in the
> next week to discuss with the local military officials the proposed deal,
> the officials said.The officials said the US military officials would be in
> Dhaka in May 14-18 for detailed discussion on the proposed deal.
>
> The Armed Forces Division, meanwhile on May 7, held an inter-ministerial
> meeting before the official talks on the proposed Acquisition and
> Cross-Servicing Agreement.The Armed Forced Division is expected to hold
> another meeting in a couple of the days for further discussion on the
> proposed deal, draft of which has already been sent to the division.
>
> Sri Lanka was the 90th country to sign the ACSA with the United States in
> 2007.According to WikiLeaks, the US Embassy in the Sri Lankan capital of
> Colombo wrote in a message that the US Pacific Command had sought to enter
> into the deal with Sri Lanka since 2002.Sri Lanka, positioned astride major
> sea lanes and at the doorstep to India, can play a significant role in
> military readiness as political and military efforts shift focus on Asia in
> the new millennium, it said.
>
> `The signing will expand DoD's capacity and capability to conduct global
> operations by adding another logistical option in South Asia, which
> ultimately reduces cost and provides flexibility to US forces moving
> through the region,' it added.
>
> Dhaka and Washington on May 5 signed a joint declaration on a `partnership
> dialogue' to hold annual consultations to give strategic direction to
> bilateral relations. The joint declaration is a first major deal between
> Bangladesh and the United States that had for long discussed the signing of
> a deal on trade and investment-related issues, but failed.
>
> Local trade experts held a number discussions with US trade experts on the
> Trade and Investment Framework Agreement between 2001 and 2010 at home and
> abroad, but failed to reach a consensus.
> Both the sides are now discussing the Trade and Investment Cooperation
> Forum Agreement, an old document with a new name, to further bilateral
> relations.
>
> http://www.newagebd.com/detail.php?date=2012-05-13&nid=10126
>
------------------------------------
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