Budget for 2013: US okays Pakistan aid — with strings attached
A list of conditions accompanies funds allocated for Pakistan, as the White House, Department of Defence and the State Department reveal their budgets for the fiscal year 2013.
The White House has allocated $800 million for Pakistan’s Counterinsurgency Capability Fund (PCCF) in its budget, whereas the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) allocated $2.4 billion for Pakistan.
The budget shows a decrease of $50 million in comparison with last year’s allocations for PCCF.
In a press release issued by the State Department, the budget allocation requested for Pakistan for the fiscal year 2013 is $2.4 billion. This includes the $800 million cited in the PCCF, and is meant for assistance to “strengthen democratic and civil institutions that provide a bulwark against extremism, and support joint security and counterterrorism efforts”.
The budget documents also outline certifications that the US secretary of state is required to make to various Congress committees before funds such as the Foreign Military Financing Programme, and the PCCF can be allocated.
According to the conditions, the secretary of state must certify that Pakistan is cooperating with the US in counterterrorism efforts against the Quetta Shura, Haqqani Network, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Taiba, al Qaeda and other domestic and foreign terrorist organisations.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 14th, 2012.
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