Amid an increasingly souring relationship, the US Senate voted to attach strings to military aid to Pakistan while an independent think tank urged policymakers to continue ‘robust’ civilian assistance.
American Senators unanimously approved an amendment by Democratic Senator Bob Casey aimed at blocking counterinsurgency aid to Pakistan until Islamabad takes aggressive steps to curb the use of roadside bombs, blamed for the deaths of US soldiers in Afghanistan.
About half of all American casualties in Afghanistan in 2011 were attributed to Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), which, Washington alleges, are prepared across the border in Pakistan.
Think tank urges civilian assistance
An independent think tank on Wednesday, meanwhile, called for substantial mid-course changes to the Kerry-Lugar bill, which forms the bedrock of civilian assistance to Pakistan, “to fulfill its goals for both the US and Pakistan.”
“Writing Pakistan out of the American foreign policy script is simply not an option,” said Jane Harman, president of the Wilson Center, in a report released on Thursday.
The report concludes that a robust program of US civilian assistance to Pakistan serves important American interests. It urges Congress not to confuse security aid to the Pakistani military with economic assistance designed to shore up civilian government, address food, health, and energy shortfalls in Pakistan.
“We should not penalise Pakistan’s civilian sector because of our serious differences with its military and should live up to our pledge to provide Pakistan with economic assistance through 2014,” the report says.
“US assistance is not a Pakistani entitlement, however. American aid should augment, not replace, Pakistani funding,” the report adds. (With additional input from AFP)
Published in The Express Tribune, December 2nd, 2011.
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