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Resistance See other Resistance Articles Title: Pakistan using US aid against India 'Pak using US aid against India' 21 May, 2007 l 0010 hrs ISTlAGENCIES Print Save EMail Write to Editor NEW YORK: Pakistan has received $1.8 billion as security assistance from the US for the war against terrorism, but the weapons financed under it are "more useful in countering India" than fighting Al Qaida and Taliban, according to a study. In addition, Pakistan has got $5.6 billion from Washington over the last five years as reimbursements for fighting Taliban and Al Qaida, the New York Times reported on Sunday quoting a research by the US-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The security assistance mostly finances large weapons system and those weapons are more useful in countering India than fighting Al Qaida or Taliban, Craig Cohen and Derek Chollet, the authors of the study, were quoted as saying by the paper. The Centre's study was on roughly $10 billion sent to Pakistan by the US since 2002. The US has also provided about $1.6 billion for "budget support," which Pakistan can use broadly, including for reducing debt. In contrast, only about $900 million have been dedicated to health, food aid, democracy promotion and education, in a country where illiteracy rates is about 50%, and American policymakers say the education gap has opened the way for religious schools that can become hotbeds of extremism, the paper reported. Surprised by the speed at which Taliban and Al Qaida have gained strength over the past year, some US officials have recommended that the billions of dollars given to Pakistan in aid to fight terrorism be tied to its performance. But, Washington has no such proposal under consideration and is continuing to make large payments, it said quoting the CSIS study. This is despite that fact that President Musharraf decided eight months ago to slash patrols through the area where Al Qaida and Taliban fighters are most active, it said. The monthly payments, called coalition support funds, are not widely advertised, the paper said. Buried in public budget numbers, the payments are intended to reimburse Pakistan's military for the cost of the operations. So far, Pakistan has received more than $5.6 billion under the programme over five years, more than half of the total aid the United States has sent to the country since the 9/11 attacks, not counting covert funds, the report said. Referring to some military officials' recommendation that the funds be tied to performance, the Times quoted the Bush administration officials as saying that no such plan is being considered, despite new evidence that the Pakistani military is often looking the other way when Taliban fighters retreat across the border into Pakistan, ignoring calls from American spotters to intercept them. There is also at least one American report that Pakistani security forces have fired in support of Taliban fighters attacking Afghan posts, the paper said. American officials say that Pakistani cooperation was mixed at best in 2005 and 2006. They complain that the Pakistanis are paid whether they go on operations or sit in their barracks. "They send us a bill, and we just pay it," said a senior military official who has dealt extensively with General Musharraf. "Nobody can really explain what we are getting for this money or even where it's going."
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