Albaia to get military support from the US

TIRANA, April 10 – An international news agency reported that an initial Pentagon proposal to provide military aid to other countries and which is not to include any assistance for Yemen, also covers Albania.
notice of the first installment of the Pentagon’s military assistance has been delivered to Congress. It would pay for training and a wide range of war-fighting equipment for 10 countries who are allies in the Afghanistan war, according to The Associated Press.
The Pentagon program is designed to improve the counter-terrorism operations of U.S. allies. While the total for the military aid is in flux due to the ongoing federal budget gridlock, it would total $350 million if it is based on last year’s amount. The Pentagon’s 2011 budget proposal submitted last year requested $500 million.
The Pentagon routinely releases military aid in three or four installments each year. This first piece, going to a group of smaller partner nations in the Afghan war, mirrors similar assistance last year and could help encourage countries not to abandon the increasingly unpopular conflict.
The countries slated to receive the aid are Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia. The assistance would fund training and buy equipment ranging from Humvees and communications equipment to guns, grenade launchers and night vision goggles.
There was initially a question about whether the rules of the program allowed the Pentagon to spend money helping nations fighting alongside U.S. troops in the wars. But Congress has agreed it is an appropriate expense, although lawmakers want it to be limited.