Pakistan has asked the United States to provide the country with attack helicopters to help bolster its military operations against militants in the northwestern regions near the Afghan border. Senator John McCain, a ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and a former US commander in Afghanistan, view Pakistan's request favourably, according to a report published in a US newspaper on Wednesday. I have been ambassador here for two years, and all I have to show for it is eight second-hand Mi-17 transport helicopters for a war that requires helicopters to root out al-Qaeda and the Taliban, Pakistan's ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, noted. According to the newspaper, Islamabad is seeking advanced US attack helicopters and other weapons as part of a comprehensive arms package to bolster preparations for a silent surge of more than 100,000 troops into the mountain lairs of militants. Military operations would have been quicker and much easier to plan and execute if we had the equipment, Ambassador Haqqani said.