News
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
US wants its Pak aid to reach more civiliansNEW YORK: The US Ambassador Cameron Munter has said that the Obama administration aims to increase the proportion of aid it provides for the country’s civilian rather than military needs. Munter issued a blunt assessment on Monday of a “rough year” in US-Pakistan relations, roiled by US forces’ clandestine raid in May that killed Osama bin Laden. He said military training and intelligence sharing efforts had gone backward but maintained that the two countries still recognised the need to work together in counter-terrorism.Munter said that last year about $2 billion of US assistance had gone to the military and $1.5 billion for civilian needs. He said that increasing the portion that goes for civilian projects would support Washington’s political goal of backing Pakistan’s civilian government. He said that Pakistan and the United States worked out “substantial agreement” on counter-terrorism issues in their lengthy ministerial-level talks on Sunday and pledged to broaden their relationship in all fields. Munter, who was speaking at Asia Society, did not elaborate, but said that the meeting between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar addressed not only security and terrorism issues but also other problems of common interest. Dealing with relations with Pakistan, the US ambassador acknowledged that that they have had a “rough year”, pointing to the difficulties posed by WikiLeaks reports, the Raymond David case and the US raid in Abbottabad. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk