Washington, June 10 : US Defence Secretary Robert Gates wants Congress' support for 700 million dollars for the Pakistan Counter-insurgency Capability Fund (PCCF) for 2010, as part of a massive 130 billion dollars request for overseas contingency operations for Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

"This programme will be carried out with the concurrence of the Secretary of State and will complement existing and planned State Department efforts by allowing the CENTCOM commander to work with Pakistan's military to build counterinsurgency capability," he said.

The US Defence Secretary was testifying before the defence subcommittee of the Senate appropriations panel.

Gates told lawmakers that Pentagon was seeking funding for the PCCF and Foreign Military Financing (FMF) programme and "asking for this authority for the urgent circumstances we face in Pakistan for dealing with a challenge that simultaneously requires military and civilian capabilities."

Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen told the Senate Appropriations panel that they were more optimistic now than in recent months about efforts to combat the Taliban along the Pak-Afghan border and the next 12 to 18 months would tell whether war in Afghanistan was being won, the Daily Times reported.

Gates emphasised that he did not mean the Afghan campaign would achieve success in that time, but rather that officials hoped to "see a shift in the momentum" by then. (ANI)