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Pentagon seeks billions to battle terror abroad

04 February 2010 21:27 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. The Obama administration is seeking billions in budget increases to target terror threats from abroad, especially Pakistan and Yemen, with boosts for surveillance and attack drones, special operations forces and a new military cyber command, â€œAssociated Pressâ€

The focus is on regions that have served as insurgent sanctuaries, where U.S. counterterror officials say the next attack against America is likely being planned.

Pentagon aid to Pakistan would balloon to $1.2 billion in 2011, aimed at bolstering its war on internal militants. And military funding to target al-Qaida could double in Yemen, where the U.S. spent more than $6 million last year just on aerial surveillance provided by drones, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press.

Pentagon and White House officials would not put an overall total on the amount of money in this week’s proposed budget aimed at countering terrorists abroad. Much of that funding is hidden behind classified budgets, including the unacknowledged CIA effort to use drone-launched missiles to target al-Qaida and other militants along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.