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Sunday, October 20, 2013
US ‘quietly’ releases $1.6bn Pakistan aid* Guardian says NATO supply routes have reopened, drone strikes are down, uncomfortable allies resumed their ‘strategic dialogue’
LAHORE: The US has quietly decided to release more than $1.6bn in military and economic aid to Pakistan that was suspended when relations between the two countries disintegrated over the covert raid that killed Osama bin Laden and deadly US air strikes against Pakistani soldiers, The Guardian reported.
The newspaper quoted officials and congressional aides as saying that ties have improved enough to allow the money to flow again. It said that US and NATO supply routes to Afghanistan are open and controversial US drone strikes are down. The US and Pakistan recently announced the restart of their “strategic dialogue” after a long pause. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is travelling to Washington for talks this coming week with President Barack Obama.
But, according to The Guardian, in a summer dominated by foreign policy debates over the coup in Egypt and chemical weapons attacks in Syria, the US has not promoted its revamped aid relationship with Pakistan. Neither has Pakistan. The silence reflects the lingering mutual suspicions between the two, it added. “The Pakistanis do not like being seen as dependent on their heavy-handed partners. The Americans are uncomfortable highlighting the billions provided to a government that is plagued by corruption and perceived as often duplicitous in fighting terrorism.” Congress has cleared most of the money, which should start moving early next year, the paper quoted officials and congressional aides as saying. According to the newspaper, the State Department told Congress that the US had not conducted any significant military financing for Pakistan since the “challenging and rapidly changing period of US-Pakistan relations” in 2011 and 2012.
“The department stressed the importance now of enhancing Pakistan’s anti-terrorism capabilities…” Daily times monitor
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk