"Do you remember how to change to manual frequency?" asked Captain Tyler Rennell. An interpreter translated the conversation taking place in the cockpit of the Mi-17 taking a dozen Afghan soldiers between Kandahar and Helmand.

In any other context, the scene would be enough to make even the best flier nervous.

But these are special circumstances. The United States is training the Afghan Army National Air Corps (AANAC) to help it fight the increasingly bloody Islamist Taliban insurgency that is spreading across the country.

With difficult terrain, air support is vital.

"He wants to land, sir," said the interpreter.

"OK, you will be fine," Rennell assured the pilot. "I just might make an input."

After about an hour's flight alternating low-flying over the dunes and high altitude above areas suspected of harbouring insurgents, the khaki-coloured aircraft landed without incident.

The Afghan pilots have an average age of 45 and are experienced.

"Some of these guys have been flying longer than I've been alive," said Rennell, but added: "We need to refresh them."

The Taliban's rise to power in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s then the invasion by a US-led military coalition at the end of 2001 saw the last vestiges of Afghan military aviation created by the Soviets.

In its heyday, the force numbered 350 aircraft. Today, there are about 40.

The pilot, Azizullah Rahimzay, 40, has been licensed to fly since 1988. But he hasn't flown for eight years.

"When the Taliban were in power it was too tough," said Rahimzay. "We emigrated to Pakistan. I returned in 2001. I am happy to fly again. I like to learn new techniques here."

Rahimzay is one of 15 pilots in the new Afghan detachment set up in October at the NATO base in Kandahar, in the heart of a region gripped by intense fighting with the Taliban.

The base is home to 200 Afghans and about 30 US mentors. On the tarmac, the meagre fleet of three Mi-17s is expected to double to six next year.

Described by the US air advisers as "rugged and easy to operate", most of the helicopters are donated by countries like Poland or the Czech Republic.

Three Mi-35 attack helicopters and Italian C-27 transport planes are also expected.

For the moment, the Afghan force's sorties are restricted to the transport of troops, equipment and detainees, medical evacuations and the repatriation of human remains.

"As we continue to train, we can start expanding our mission set," including close air support in combat, Rennell said, adding: "That's going to take years."

"There is a lot of resistance to training," he went on.

"They want to be part of the fight and they feel like they already know what they need to know.

"We try to get them to use checklists. Here everything is from memory."

Training includes how to speak to air traffic control because "a lot of their airspace was uncontrolled before 2001", said Rennell.

Pilots are also accustomed to navigating by sight, so teaching has to include the use of maps and global positioning systems.

"Most (pilots) don't have conversational English. English is the language of aviation," said Rennell. "We don't have English teachers in Kandahar."

But the success of the mission is vital. Getting the Afghan military on its feet and capable of being solely responsible for the security of the country is a condition for the departure of international forces.

"The quicker they're ready, the quicker we are going to finish the mission," said US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Percy Dunagin, another mentor. "That's going to get us out of here.

"We are a couple of years behind the ANA (Afghan National Army) training but the Air Corps is inherently more challenging and technologically more advanced."

earlier related report
US tries to reassure Pakistan on aid
The United States on Tuesday hit back at Pakistani critics of a giant aid package, rejecting charges it was violating the nuclear power's sovereignty in the fight against Islamic extremism.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi rushed back to Washington just days after a previous visit as his nation's powerful military led a nationalist backlash against the five-year, 7.5 billion-dollar aid plan.

In a hastily arranged meeting, Senator John Kerry -- a key author of the aid package -- promised to come up with a congressional statement clarifying that the United States was not imposing conditions on Pakistan for non-military aid.

"There is nothing in this bill that impinges on Pakistani sovereignty -- period, end of issue. And we have no intention of doing so," Kerry told a joint news conference with Qureshi.

The legislation, with its stated hopes for Pakistan to tackle extremism, does not "require anything of Pakistan that isn't already the stated policy of the government and opposition parties," he said.

The package aims to build schools, roads and democratic institutions and improve the plight of women, all part of a US drive to thwart the appeal of Islamic extremists in a nation gripped by violence.

Qureshi said he felt obligated to return to Washington due to the uproar in Pakistan, where anti-American sentiment runs high.

"It is my responsibility as a friend of this relationship -- a person who wants to deepen and strengthen this relationship -- that we address these concerns," Qureshi said.

Kerry said the package marked a landmark US commitment to Pakistan's people -- not necessarily its government -- and noted that it came despite Americans "going through their own economically challenging times."

Kerry plans to travel Wednesday to Pakistan and Afghanistan for a first-hand look at the neighboring countries which President Barack Obama has made a top priority, his staff said.

Obama is also mulling whether to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan, part of a two-pronged strategy to root out extremists from the region.

Robert Gibbs, Obama's spokesman, said the president would sign the aid bill "soon," adding that critics of the package "either are misinformed or are characterizing this in a different way for their own political purposes."

US officials have privately voiced concern about whether civilian President Asif Ali Zardari, who ended a decade of military rule last year, had full control over the army and intelligence.

While the package went through Congress with support from both parties, some US House members have also voiced unease, saying it was too costly in a troubled economy or doubting Pakistan's sincerity in fighting extremists.

A leaked memorandum from a senior economist at the US aid agency recently protested that Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy to the region, was insisting on funding Pakistani groups too weak to handle such major projects.

The US-India Political Action Committee, which represents Indian-Americans, has worried that Pakistan could misuse US support for counter-insurgency efforts and called for better tabs on Pakistan's nuclear program.

Oeindrila Dube, an expert on foreign aid at the Center for Global Development, said the package had a "disjuncture" by focusing on non-military support but seeking progress on military goals.

The bill also lacks clear benchmarks for how to quantify progress, she said.

"But I think, ultimately, it is a rather large chunk of change and the incentive of the Pakistani government will certainly be to accept the aid package," she said.

"From the US side, there is not much scope left for reforming the language of the bill."

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