News
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
US lawmakers freeze $700m assistance to Pakistan
* Cutback only small proportion of civil, military assistance Pakistan gets every year
ISLAMABAD: A US Congressional panel has frozen $700 million in aid to Pakistan until it gives assurances it is helping fight the spread of homemade bombs in the region, a move one Pakistani senator called unwise and likely to strain ties further.
Pakistan is one of the largest recipients of US foreign aid and the cutback announced is only a small proportion of the billions in civil and military assistance it gets each year. But it could presage even greater cuts. The aid freeze targets funds used to fight Taliban insurgents.
The freeze on US aid was agreed as part of a defence bill that is expected to be passed this week.
The United States wants “assurances that Pakistan is countering improvised explosive devices in their country that are targeting our coalition forces”, Representative Howard McKeon, a House Republican, told reporters.
The United States has allocated some $20 billion in security and economic aid to Pakistan since 2001, much of it in the form of reimbursements for assistance in fighting militants. But US lawmakers have expressed increasing frustration with Pakistan’s efforts in the war.
Pakistan’s civilian leaders have in the past warned against aid cuts, saying it would only harden public opinion against the United States.
Pakistan says it is doing all it can to fight al Qaeda and Taliban and has lost thousands of soldiers since it joined the US-led war in 2001, some of them at the hands of coalition troops. The decision to freeze aid could prompt Pakistan to harden its stance towards Washington.
“I think the Pakistan side will understand the type of signal that is coming, which shows it’s not only a question of aid,” a security analyst said.
“The whole attitude of the US and the relationship will be affected by these measures because they know Pakistan will not be in a position to control the smuggling.”
“The vast majority of the material used to make improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan originates from two fertiliser factories in Pakistan,” Republican Senator John McCain said last week. The United States has urged Pakistan to regulate the distribution of ammonium nitrate to Afghanistan strictly. So far, Pakistan has only produced draft legislation on the issue. agencies
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk