Bloomberg | By Tony Capaccio

June 3 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. military plans to lease four of its Russian-made transport helicopters to the Pakistan army to bolster its fight against the Taliban in the nation’s ungoverned northwest territories, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials.

The helicopters were among the top items that Pakistan Army Chief of Staff General Ashfaq Kayani has requested in continuing talks with U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen, and that Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari sought during his meeting last month with U.S. President Barack Obama, the officials said.

The MI-17 is a medium-weight helicopter, capable of carrying troops, performing medical evacuations and carrying out ground attacks. The four helicopters may be delivered as soon as June 8, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Pakistan’s military already is using MI-17s and “has found these platforms to be very useful in their current counter- insurgency operations,” said Alan Kronstadt, a Pakistan expert with the non-partisan Congressional Research Service.

Pakistan’s leaders “urgently requested” that the U.S. provide more “to fill the gap created by the ongoing refurbishment” of its existing fleet, he said in an e-mailed statement.

Swat Valley

Pakistani security forces say they are close to driving militants from the Swat Valley and neighboring districts in the nation’s northwest after the Taliban flouted a February peace accord that introduced Islamic law in the region. The fighting has forced 3 million people to flee their homes, according to local authorities.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman confirmed the broad outlines of the U.S. action and said details of the final delivery date are being worked out.

“We are supporting Pakistan in its efforts against violent extremism,” Whitman said in a telephone interview. “The support includes various defense articles, services and training.”

“Helicopters with the capacity to operate in Pakistan’s rugged terrain are a high priority for the Pakistani Army, and we are pursuing numerous options to provide that capability, including the MI-17 option,” Whitman said.

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said the helicopters are an indication “the president is moving aggressively to provide the needed resources to address the humanitarian situation in Pakistan.”

Pressure from U.S.

Obama has pressed the government in Islamabad to wrest control of the northwest area from extremists. The insurgency threatens the nuclear-armed country’s stability and hampers the war effort by the U.S. and NATO in neighboring Afghanistan.

The four Russian-made helicopters are owned by the U.S. Army. Two are at Ramstein Air Base in Germany and two are in Slovakia. They will be flown to Pakistan on a Russian-made AN- 124 aircraft, one of the world’s largest transports, according to the officials. They said they didn’t know who owned this plane, a model used by private transport companies worldwide.

Pakistan also has about 32 U.S. Cobra gunships in its inventory. The MI-17 can perform more missions than the Cobra, which is primarily designed to fire air-to-ground missiles, the officials said.

The operation is being organized by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which manages Pentagon foreign military sales.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Tony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: June 2, 2009 18:19 EDT

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