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U.S. Delays $800 Million in Pakistan Aid
By James Rupert and Susan Decker - Jul 10, 2011 2:57 PM ET
The U.S. is withholding about $800 million in military aid to Pakistan over actions by the nuclear- armed country since the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden, said White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley.
Theyve taken some steps that have given us reason to pause on some of the aid which were giving to the military, and were trying to work through that, Daley said on ABCs This Week program. Until we get through these difficulties, well hold back some of the money that the American taxpayers have committed to give.
After crises this year worsened long-standing tensions, the countries relationship is at its low point following the May 2 U.S. raid that killed the al-Qaeda leader in a Pakistani army garrison town, Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview with the U.S. military-affairs website This Week in Defense News that was broadcast today.
In those 10 weeks, Pakistan has arrested an army major for allegedly helping the Central Intelligence Agency target bin Laden, according to U.S. officials cited by the New York Times and other newspapers, and has expelled more than 100 U.S. military personnel.
Recent criticisms of the Pakistani military by U.S. officials cited by the Times amount to a direct attack on Pakistans security, its armed forces spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, said in an interview yesterday, Reuters reported.
Anger and Humiliation
The announced aid cutoff may deepen a feeling of anger and humiliation that political analyst and retired Pakistani army Lieutenant General Talat Masood says has grown in the countrys military this year. Tensions have risen steadily since January, when a CIA contract employee, Raymond Davis, shot dead two Pakistani men he said were trying to rob him in Lahore.
We have not received any formal intimation or letter from the U.S. informing us of a decision to withhold aid, Abbas said by phone to Bloomberg News. He said Pakistans operations against Taliban guerrillas in the countrys northwest will be unaffected because the country has conducted them since 2009 without any external support whatsoever.
The New York Times, which reported the deferral of military aid earlier, said the amount being withheld represents more than a third of the $2 billion in security assistance given to Pakistan. It includes about $300 million to cover some of the costs of posting more than 100,000 Pakistani soldiers along the Afghan border as well as training assistance and military hardware, the newspaper reported.
Withholding Visas
A full description of the U.S. assistance on hold is classified, said Navy Captain John Kirby, a spokesman for Mullen. Night-vision devices, helicopter spare parts, radios, and equipment to counter guerrilla-made bombs are delayed because Pakistan is withholding visas for U.S. personnel required to assist with them, Kirby said in an e-mail.
Since the bin Laden raid by U.S. Navy commandos, American officials have questioned whether some in the Pakistani military were helping to hide the al-Qaeda leader, and whether Pakistans investigation of the incident may be aimed more at those who might have helped the U.S. find him. The U.S. didnt notify the Pakistani government before the raid out of fear that someone might tip off bin Laden.
Obviously theres still a lot of pain that the political system in Pakistan is feeling by virtue of the raid, Daley said. Something that the president felt strongly about. We have no regrets over.
Support for Taliban
Another irritant in relations is Pakistans covert support for the Taliban and allied groups fighting U.S. troops in Afghanistan, say analysts such as Imtiaz Gul, chairman of the Center for Research and Security Studies in Islamabad. Pakistan is tied in to these groups because it wants to use them to gain influence over Afghanistan in coming years, and thus block its foe, India, from gaining sway there, Gul said by phone last week.
Mullen said April 20 that Pakistans main military spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, still has a longstanding relationship with a Taliban faction led by Jalaluddin Haqqani that a recent Defense Department report called the most significant threat to U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said in May the U.S. should curtail more than $1 billion in annual economic aid to Pakistan unless the Islamabad government stops harboring groups such as Haqqanis.
Mullen said July 7 there are indications that suggest the Pakistani government sanctioned last months abduction and killing of Saleem Shahzad, 40, a journalist who had written about the infiltration of militants in the military.
Daley echoed Secretary of State Hillary Clintons statement last month that U.S. interests give it no option but to work with Pakistan. The Pakistani relationship is difficult, but it must be made to work over time, Daley said on ABC.
Pakistan has been an important ally in the fight on terrorism, he said.
U.S. Delays $800 Million in Pakistan Aid - Bloomberg
By James Rupert and Susan Decker - Jul 10, 2011 2:57 PM ET
The U.S. is withholding about $800 million in military aid to Pakistan over actions by the nuclear- armed country since the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden, said White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley.
Theyve taken some steps that have given us reason to pause on some of the aid which were giving to the military, and were trying to work through that, Daley said on ABCs This Week program. Until we get through these difficulties, well hold back some of the money that the American taxpayers have committed to give.
After crises this year worsened long-standing tensions, the countries relationship is at its low point following the May 2 U.S. raid that killed the al-Qaeda leader in a Pakistani army garrison town, Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview with the U.S. military-affairs website This Week in Defense News that was broadcast today.
In those 10 weeks, Pakistan has arrested an army major for allegedly helping the Central Intelligence Agency target bin Laden, according to U.S. officials cited by the New York Times and other newspapers, and has expelled more than 100 U.S. military personnel.
Recent criticisms of the Pakistani military by U.S. officials cited by the Times amount to a direct attack on Pakistans security, its armed forces spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, said in an interview yesterday, Reuters reported.
Anger and Humiliation
The announced aid cutoff may deepen a feeling of anger and humiliation that political analyst and retired Pakistani army Lieutenant General Talat Masood says has grown in the countrys military this year. Tensions have risen steadily since January, when a CIA contract employee, Raymond Davis, shot dead two Pakistani men he said were trying to rob him in Lahore.
We have not received any formal intimation or letter from the U.S. informing us of a decision to withhold aid, Abbas said by phone to Bloomberg News. He said Pakistans operations against Taliban guerrillas in the countrys northwest will be unaffected because the country has conducted them since 2009 without any external support whatsoever.
The New York Times, which reported the deferral of military aid earlier, said the amount being withheld represents more than a third of the $2 billion in security assistance given to Pakistan. It includes about $300 million to cover some of the costs of posting more than 100,000 Pakistani soldiers along the Afghan border as well as training assistance and military hardware, the newspaper reported.
Withholding Visas
A full description of the U.S. assistance on hold is classified, said Navy Captain John Kirby, a spokesman for Mullen. Night-vision devices, helicopter spare parts, radios, and equipment to counter guerrilla-made bombs are delayed because Pakistan is withholding visas for U.S. personnel required to assist with them, Kirby said in an e-mail.
Since the bin Laden raid by U.S. Navy commandos, American officials have questioned whether some in the Pakistani military were helping to hide the al-Qaeda leader, and whether Pakistans investigation of the incident may be aimed more at those who might have helped the U.S. find him. The U.S. didnt notify the Pakistani government before the raid out of fear that someone might tip off bin Laden.
Obviously theres still a lot of pain that the political system in Pakistan is feeling by virtue of the raid, Daley said. Something that the president felt strongly about. We have no regrets over.
Support for Taliban
Another irritant in relations is Pakistans covert support for the Taliban and allied groups fighting U.S. troops in Afghanistan, say analysts such as Imtiaz Gul, chairman of the Center for Research and Security Studies in Islamabad. Pakistan is tied in to these groups because it wants to use them to gain influence over Afghanistan in coming years, and thus block its foe, India, from gaining sway there, Gul said by phone last week.
Mullen said April 20 that Pakistans main military spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, still has a longstanding relationship with a Taliban faction led by Jalaluddin Haqqani that a recent Defense Department report called the most significant threat to U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said in May the U.S. should curtail more than $1 billion in annual economic aid to Pakistan unless the Islamabad government stops harboring groups such as Haqqanis.
Mullen said July 7 there are indications that suggest the Pakistani government sanctioned last months abduction and killing of Saleem Shahzad, 40, a journalist who had written about the infiltration of militants in the military.
Daley echoed Secretary of State Hillary Clintons statement last month that U.S. interests give it no option but to work with Pakistan. The Pakistani relationship is difficult, but it must be made to work over time, Daley said on ABC.
Pakistan has been an important ally in the fight on terrorism, he said.
U.S. Delays $800 Million in Pakistan Aid - Bloomberg
