US aid to Pakistan based on conditions: Report

The White House is basing billions in on Islamabad's ability to meet a 'scorecard' of security objectives.

WASHINGTON: The White House has started conditioning billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan based on progress on a secret scorecard of US objectives to combat militancy, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

(Read: More strings on Pakistan aid)

The report said that the United States is asking Pakistan to take specific steps to ease bilateral tensions.

The classified system, put in place after the US raid in Abbottabad that killed Osama bin Laden, signals a shift by the White House toward a pay-for-performance relationship.

The report quotes a senior military official calling the unusual new approach "a hard-knuckled reflection of where we are right now" in relations.

US officials say a sharp breakdown in counter-terrorism cooperation following the Abbottabad raid in May and the arrest of a CIA contractor in Pakistan have led to aid conditioning.

The new approach represents an effort to salvage as much counter-terrorism cooperation to deliver a deathblow to al Qaeda's remaining leadership in Pakistan.