Conditional aid: US senators vote to tie Pakistan aid to supply routes

Senate appropriations subcommittee on foreign aid votes to cut aid by 58%.

WASHINGTON:

A US Senate panel voted cuts in aid to Pakistan on Wednesday and threatened to withhold even more cash if Islamabad does not reopen its supply routes for Nato soldiers in Afghanistan, reflecting American frustration over a months-long standoff.

The action by the Senate appropriations subcommittee on foreign aid followed a weekend Nato summit in Chicago at which Washington had hoped to reach a deal with Islamabad to end the supply line dispute.

Pakistan closed the supply routes through its territory to Afghanistan in protest when US aircraft killed 24 Pakistani soldiers along the Afghan border last November.

The Senate panel voted to cut aid to Pakistan by 58% in fiscal 2013 from the request by the administration of US President Barack Obama, said the panel’s chairman, Senator Patrick Leahy, who is a Democrat.

The senators voted $1 billion for Pakistan, including $800 million in foreign aid. However, funding for the Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund was limited to just $50 million, and that money was tied to the supply lines’ reopening, said Senator Lindsey Graham, the panel’s top Republican.

“We’re not going to be giving money to an ally that won’t be an ally,” Graham told reporters.

The counterinsurgency fund was established several years ago to help train and equip Pakistan’s military.

The panel’s spending blueprint must still be approved by the full Senate and the House of Representatives before it can become law. But criticism of Pakistan in Congress and demands for a complete aid cutoff have been growing, especially after Osama bin Laden was found and killed by US forces in Abbottabad a little more than a year ago.

Pakistan has been one of the leading recipients of US foreign aid and in recent years US lawmakers have approved more than $20 billion in aid and reimbursements since 2001.

The administration suspended $800 million in aid for Pakistan’s military last year but American officials have suggested the aid could be restored if Pakistan would display more commitment to counter-terrorism operations.

US hopes for breakthrough in Pakistan NATO supply route talks

The US hopes Pakistan will soon agree to re-open supply routes to Nato troops in Afghanistan, a US official said on Wednesday. ”Talks are ongoing and we hope to reach a resolution soon,” he told Reuters.

The official said fees for use of the routes which Pakistan is demanding are under discussion in talks currently focused on technical issues.

Pakistani officials have denied press reports that Islamabad has been holding up progress in the talks by demanding unreasonably high supply route fees.

“These are complex issues under discussion with a range of topics,” one of the officials told Reuters. “I cannot say if there will be a deal tomorrow, next week or the week after. It will be resolved when it is resolved.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2012.