India welcomes US suspending military aid to Pakistan

SM Krishna says not desirable that US heavily arm the region and upset the equilibrium in the region itself.


Afp July 11, 2011

NEW DELHI: India on Monday welcomed the US decision to suspend $800 million worth of military aid to Pakistan.

"It is not desirable that this region had to be heavily armed by the US, which will upset the equilibrium in the region itself," External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said, according the domestic PTI news agency.

"To that extent, India welcomes this step," he said.

The United States is withholding some $800 million in aid to Pakistan, almost a third of the $2.7 billion in security assistance it provides each year to Islamabad.

Last month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that Washington would slow down US military aid to Pakistan unless it took unspecified steps to help the United States.

William Daley, Obama's chief of staff, confirmed that the administration was suspending and, in certain cases, canceling some $800 million of military aid.

The suspended aid includes about $300 million to reimburse Pakistan for some of the costs of deploying more than 100,000 soldiers along the Afghan border, according to the New York Times, which broke the story late Saturday.

In addition, said the Times, hundreds of millions of dollars in training assistance and military hardware are also being withheld.

Correction: An earlier headline of this article did not mention the suspension of 'military'-specific aid to Pakistan. The correction has been made.

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COMMENTS (142)

Sam | 12 years ago | Reply

@Hedgefunder:

spoken like a true stalker "not obsessed.. just observing"...

fact of the matter is India loves to shove her nose where it doesnt belong... pakistan (even if i does) has no right to comment on indian relations with other countries.. thats indias concern... if its a thret to pakistan yes itll be of concern to us.. but when if its of no thret to us it doesnt matter.. as in this case which is of no relevance to india..

we faught a war because truth be told we had no other option.. we incurred costs our economy couldnt support.. for that we were committed aid.. is the US right in holding it back.. NO!.. am i glad its holding back on it? YES... because the way i see it pakistan wil only be able to stabalize wen all unwated foreign elemints are miimized and pakistan takes control of the situation herself... and whilst iv been highly critical of the army in the past.. they are finally making an effort now...

Hedgefunder | 12 years ago | Reply

@Sam: For your info "Iittle Indian world" does not revolve around Pakistan, its called observance as to what one's neighbour with dubous reputation is up to !!! But perhaps that's bit hard to grasp, for Big Pakistani mind, as its stuck in world of Psychedelic Dellusion, about its Grandness from within the Cocoon !! Come on Sam, learn to face the reality, it helps and we all know that you are smart.

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