WikiLeaks: Government unaware of US direct funding to military

Cable reveals former finance minister had complained that Kayani was not informing the govt of US direct funding.

The government of Pakistan had complained to the United States that the military was not informing the government of direct US funding to the country’s armed forces and had requested the US inform them of funds being directed towards the military, revealed a recently released WikiLeaks cable.

The cable, sent by former US ambassador Anne Patterson on June 11, 2009 from Islamabad (reference no. 233602), reveals that former finance minister Shaukat Tarin had told the ambassador that Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani was not passing on information of direct US funding to the finance ministry and asked the ambassador to keep him informed of the funding as the finance ministry required the information for budgeting purposes. He assured Patterson that the government would not reduce funding to the military once it had the information.

The former finance minister offered to open an account for the military if Kayani worked with the finance ministry to “streamline and rationalize PakMil budget planning.”

Tarin said he is willing to open a hard currency account for the military if Kayani agrees to this approach; the account will be an incentive, Tarin said, as many of the military’s purchases require dollars in any case.  The Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund (PCCF) would remain separate, Tarin said.

The US ambassador informed Tarin that the military was receiving equipment and not cash under the Foreign Military Finance (FMF) program.

In a separate cable, dated March 24, 2008 (reference no. 146991), the US embassy in Islamabad revealed growing concern inside the military about the “long-term viability of Coalition Support Fund (CSF)”. It also states the military was aware of the possibility of the civilian government trying to “divert CSF fund for non-military purposes”.

During recent high level exchanges senior Pakistani military officials expressed concern about the future of CSF, arguing that it would not be possible to sustain the current force levels and operational tempo in the FATA without it. Post received a record CSF claim for December of $155 million which projects to an annual rate of $1.8 billion, a level which would exceed the legislative authority.  The January 2008 claim exceeded $200 million.

Cable Referenced: WikiLeaks no. 233602, 146991

The full text of the cables can be read on Dawn.com, The HinduandNDTV. WikiLeaks has previously released cables to other media organisations including Guardian and the New York Times.