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WASHINGTON: Pakistan is blaming India for the Obama administration holding back aid to Islamabad, amid calls in the US for a re-evaluation of Washington's munificent policy towards a country that continues to foster terrorists.
A donor conference in Islamabad on Friday aimed at extracting $380 million from the world community to rehabilitate Pakistan's internally displaced people (IDP) effectively collapsed after the US reportedly didn't come through with its commitment to announce $250 million in aid. The $250 million was part of the $532 million under the Kerry-Lugar assistance package that the US ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson had reportedly assured the Pakistani finance minister the US would disburse.
READ ALSO: US says there will be aid to Pakistan, but it hasn't happened yet
''In recent days, however, the United States has come under sustained diplomatic pressure from India over its financial assistance to Pakistan. New Delhi wants the US to stop all aid to Pakistan until terrorists it accuses of having masterminded attacks on Indian soil are caught and punished,'' the Express Tribune newspaper reported on the weekend even as US officials in Washington said the Obama administration had not notified Congress for any aid to Pakistan but ''obviously there'll be additional funding.''
The reading in Indian quarters from that remark by a state department official is that the US is merely holding back aid for tactical reasons till secretary of state John Kerry completes his visit to India for the Vibrant Gujarat summit on the sidelines of the Pravasi Bharat event, while also setting the stage for President Barack Obama's visit to India later this month. Kerry is expected to go to Pakistan after his India visit although that has not been officially confirmed because of security reasons.
Typical of their sense of entitlement even while begging for aid, Pakistani finance ministry officials have contested the US claim that Washington had provided approximately $ 100 million for IDPs, saying that was the amount pledged in the past for wheat procurement and processing.
READ ALSO: India reacts sharply after US 'certifies' Pakistan's action against terror groups
In a previous (second) donor conference last November, Pakistan had sought $753 million and managed to get $375 million in commitments from the World Bank and European governments, including $150 million from the UK, $108 million from the World Bank, and $76 million from Italy, but nothing from the United States. US officials were expected to have announced their government's commitment at the third conference, Tribune said.
But there is growing disquiet in the US too regarding Washington's unending and fruitless aid to Pakistan that by some accounts add up to nearly $ 30 billion since 9/11.
''American officials say aid has allowed them to maintain some modest leverage ... but it makes no sense to subsidize Pakistan's policy failures, which include an obsession with nuclear weapons, paltry investments in education and a refusal to seriously combat extremism,'' the New York Times Editorial Board noted this week. It said the aid should be conditioned on Pakistan doing more for itself -- by cutting back on spending for nuclear weapons and requiring its elites to pay taxes.
READ ALSO: Despite billions of dollars in aid, US unable to get Pakistan to confront militants
Pakistan is said to have the world's fastest growing nuclear arsenal combined with some of the poorest tax collection, even as its elites, including its army, skim the exchequer while begging the world for aid.
The NYT editorial said doubts about the aid ''center on Pakistan's army, which has long played a double game, accepting America's money while enabling some militant groups.'' After militants massacred 148 students and teachers at an army-run school in Peshawar last month, Pakistan's government promised that it would no longer distinguish between ''bad'' and ''good'' militant groups, bur there is little evidence that the army has gone after the ''good'' groups in a serious way, it observed.
www.timesofindia.com/india/Pakistan-blames-India-as-US-holds-back-aid-to-Islamabad/articleshow/45838765.cms
A donor conference in Islamabad on Friday aimed at extracting $380 million from the world community to rehabilitate Pakistan's internally displaced people (IDP) effectively collapsed after the US reportedly didn't come through with its commitment to announce $250 million in aid. The $250 million was part of the $532 million under the Kerry-Lugar assistance package that the US ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson had reportedly assured the Pakistani finance minister the US would disburse.
READ ALSO: US says there will be aid to Pakistan, but it hasn't happened yet
''In recent days, however, the United States has come under sustained diplomatic pressure from India over its financial assistance to Pakistan. New Delhi wants the US to stop all aid to Pakistan until terrorists it accuses of having masterminded attacks on Indian soil are caught and punished,'' the Express Tribune newspaper reported on the weekend even as US officials in Washington said the Obama administration had not notified Congress for any aid to Pakistan but ''obviously there'll be additional funding.''
The reading in Indian quarters from that remark by a state department official is that the US is merely holding back aid for tactical reasons till secretary of state John Kerry completes his visit to India for the Vibrant Gujarat summit on the sidelines of the Pravasi Bharat event, while also setting the stage for President Barack Obama's visit to India later this month. Kerry is expected to go to Pakistan after his India visit although that has not been officially confirmed because of security reasons.
Typical of their sense of entitlement even while begging for aid, Pakistani finance ministry officials have contested the US claim that Washington had provided approximately $ 100 million for IDPs, saying that was the amount pledged in the past for wheat procurement and processing.
READ ALSO: India reacts sharply after US 'certifies' Pakistan's action against terror groups
In a previous (second) donor conference last November, Pakistan had sought $753 million and managed to get $375 million in commitments from the World Bank and European governments, including $150 million from the UK, $108 million from the World Bank, and $76 million from Italy, but nothing from the United States. US officials were expected to have announced their government's commitment at the third conference, Tribune said.
But there is growing disquiet in the US too regarding Washington's unending and fruitless aid to Pakistan that by some accounts add up to nearly $ 30 billion since 9/11.
''American officials say aid has allowed them to maintain some modest leverage ... but it makes no sense to subsidize Pakistan's policy failures, which include an obsession with nuclear weapons, paltry investments in education and a refusal to seriously combat extremism,'' the New York Times Editorial Board noted this week. It said the aid should be conditioned on Pakistan doing more for itself -- by cutting back on spending for nuclear weapons and requiring its elites to pay taxes.
READ ALSO: Despite billions of dollars in aid, US unable to get Pakistan to confront militants
Pakistan is said to have the world's fastest growing nuclear arsenal combined with some of the poorest tax collection, even as its elites, including its army, skim the exchequer while begging the world for aid.
The NYT editorial said doubts about the aid ''center on Pakistan's army, which has long played a double game, accepting America's money while enabling some militant groups.'' After militants massacred 148 students and teachers at an army-run school in Peshawar last month, Pakistan's government promised that it would no longer distinguish between ''bad'' and ''good'' militant groups, bur there is little evidence that the army has gone after the ''good'' groups in a serious way, it observed.
www.timesofindia.com/india/Pakistan-blames-India-as-US-holds-back-aid-to-Islamabad/articleshow/45838765.cms
