Hillary Clinton says Afghanistan 'major non-Nato ally'

[Joey Skylynx]

[quote]
[B]The United States has given Afghanistan the status of "major non-Nato ally".[/B]
The designation, which includes countries such as Australia, Egypt and Israel, gives preferential access to US arms exports and defence co-operation.
The announcement was made by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on an unannounced visit to Kabul.
She was due to meet President Hamid Karzai, a day ahead of a major conference of Afghanistan's foreign donors in Japan.
The gathering in Tokyo is expected to discuss how to support Kabul after most of the 130,000 Nato-led troops leave Afghanistan at the end of 2014.
Taliban and other insurgents have stepped up attacks in recent months.
A senior state department official told reporters the visit to Kabul would be a brief stop during Mrs Clinton's journey to Tokyo.
"The secretary wanted to be able stop in Kabul en route to Tokyo, in large part just to check signals before this last major, significant ministerial conference," the official said.
Participants at Sunday's meeting in Japan are expected to commit almost $4bn (£2.6bn) in annual development aid to Afghanistan.
Nato leaders meeting in Chicago in May endorsed plans to hand over combat command to Afghan forces by mid-2013. After the full Nato withdrawal in 2014, only training units will remain.
There are fears the pullout could lead to Afghanistan sliding back into chaos, destroy its fragile economic recovery and reduce international donors' willingness to provide aid.
At the Chicago meeting, US President Barack Obama issued a pledge that the United States would not abandon Afghanistan.[/quote]
[URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18750732"]BBC[/URL]

[EmperorScorpious]

"Major non-NATO ally" = "We're gonna sell guns to them"

[DamagePoint]

I wonder if Pakistan is on that list.

[Clementine]

[QUOTE=DamagePoint;36658589]I wonder if Pakistan is on that list.[/QUOTE]

you mean the country that harbored Osama Bin Laden? Yeah definitely a country worthy of our alliance.

[Derposaurus]

[QUOTE=Clementine;36658889]you mean the country that harbored Osama Bin Laden? Yeah definitely a country worthy of our alliance.[/QUOTE]

Things are tense still, but we saw nothing get done when that was initially discovered, and I have seen nothing happen to this day. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they were on the list.

[Collin665]

Yes, Pakistan is considered a MNNA. It has been since George W. Bush's second term.

[editline]7th July 2012[/editline]

[QUOTE=Clementine;36658889]you mean the country that harbored Osama Bin Laden? Yeah definitely a country worthy of our alliance.[/QUOTE]

See above.

[Krinkels]

[QUOTE=Derposaurus;36659179]Things are tense still, but we saw nothing get done when that was initially discovered, and I have seen nothing happen to this day. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they were on the list.[/QUOTE]

But if they're on the list, it means India isn't.

[DamagePoint]

[QUOTE=Derposaurus;36659179]Things are tense still, but we saw nothing get done when that was initially discovered, and I have seen nothing happen to this day. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they were on the list.[/QUOTE]

Well they did charge the man who helped find bin Laden with treason which I think says everything about Pakistan's relationship with the U.S. at this point.