fatman17
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Date Posted: 11-Jul-201i
Pakistan dismisses 'symbolic' $800m cut in US aid
Guy Anderson Defence Industry Editor - London
James Hardy Asia-Pacific Editor - London
Farhan Bokhari Correspondent - Islamabad
Pakistani government officials dismissed reports on 11 July that the US is to cut military and security aid by USD800 million as a "symbolic" gesture, albeit one that carries the message that "relations are worsening, not getting better".
Officials in Islamabad told they had not yet been formally notified of the Obama administration's decision, which emerged through US media outlets over the previous days.
The New York Times reported the funding suspension on 9 July, while White House Chief of Staff William Daley appeared to confirm the report on ABC News' This Week with Christiane Amanpour programme on 10 July, in which he said that Pakistani authorities had "taken some steps that have given us [Washington] reason to pause on some of the aid which we're giving to the military".
The decision reflects a relationship between Washington and Islamabad that has become increasingly tense, notably as Pakistan seeks to reassert its independence following the raid by US personnel that culminated in the assassination of Osama bin Laden in May. Its response included the expulsion of about 100 US military trainers and efforts to close down a US unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) facility at Shamsi airfield in Baluchistan Province.
It has been indicated that the USD800 million sum mentioned by Daley include USD300 million allocated under Coalition Support Funds (CSF): the facility used to reimburse Pakistan for costs relating to logistics and operational efforts in support of US operations. Other funds affected are believed to relate to the US military trainers that had been ordered out of the country.
Pakistan has emerged as one of the world's principal recipients of US military and security funding following the renewal of relations in 2001 after a decade of sanctions and suspended funding. The thaw was a reflection of Pakistan's significance to US activities following the terror attacks of 11 September 2001.
However, US aid for military and security efforts in Pakistan - which make up the bulk of US financial support provided to the country (see below) - has proved contentious, with a growing swell of political dissent noticeable in Washington.
reported in June that a funding bill passed by the US House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations proposed that 75 per cent of US military aid to Pakistan be withheld until the Obama administration told Congress how the money would be spent. The 2012 appropriations bill proposed that only 25 per cent of the USD1.1 billion Pakistan Counter-Insurgency Fund (PCCF) be made available to Islamabad.
When contacted by on 11 July, the US Department of State was unable to elaborate on the specific funding streams to which the USD800m sum related. However, a spokesman confirmed that all US aid to Pakistan remains "under review".
FOREIGN MILITARY FINANCING (FMF)
While the CSF and PCCF funding streams available to Pakistan are threatened, the FMF tranches - which provide equipment and services relating to longer-term modernisation but not awarded in cash - appear on safer ground. There has been no suggestion to date that FMF is threatened.
FMF - which typically feeds through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) scheme, also administered by the Defence Security and Co-operation agency (DSCA) branch of the DoD - has been of substantial benefit to the US industrial base given that funding filters back to US contractors.
Pakistan has been allocated goods and services valued at USD2.1 billion since 2002 and has purchased materiel and related services valued at USD5.4 billion over the same period.
FMF aid has typically been directed towards the purchase of surplus or obsolete US materiel, such as eight former USN P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft (valued at USD474 million including refurbishment); 5,600 military radios from the US Excess Defense Articles (EDA) inventory (USD186 million); and six surplus C-130E transport aircraft (USD76 million).
It is notable that larger procurements of new materiel have typically been funded from core Pakistani procurement budgets, an example being the acquisition of 18 new F-16C/D Block 50/52 combat aircraft (under a USD1.43 billion agreement).
Agreements funded by a combination of FMF and core Pakistani funds include, according to the US Congressional Research Service, the purchase of 115 M-109 self-propelled howitzers (a USD87 million procurement, of which USD53 million was provided as FMF).
PAKISTANI - REACTION TO THE US WITHHOLDING AID
Pakistani officials had not been formally notified of Washington's decision to withhold aid as of 11 July, although officials reacted by saying that the decision was unlikely to prove helpful.
A senior Pakistani government official told that the US decision will give further impetus to anti-US public opinion and make it additionally difficult for both sides to salvage a relationship that has been under stress since US Navy SEALs tracked down and killed Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil in May.
"The US-Pakistan relationship is under a great deal of stress. The US decision to scale down military assistance to Pakistan will further raise the level of public anger in Pakistan," the official said. However, a Western defence official in Islamabad said that in the short term. He added that Washington's decision was more of "a symbolic nature than of greater substance".
The Pakistani Army was already expecting a "scaling down of US assistance" after the Bin Laden raid and the subsequent friction in relations. He said the reported cut in the CSF of USD300 million suggests the US wants to "carry on with the majority of its CSF support to Pakistan" but added that "the message to Pakistan is still that relations are worsening, not getting better".
US MILITARY AID TO PAKISTAN - BACKGROUND
Pakistan has ranked as one of the world's principal recipients of US aid. Of the USD30 billion committed to Pakistan since 1948, 50 per cent has been related to military and security programmes.
Military and security aid was suspended in 1990 by the first Bush administration as a result of Pakistan's nuclear activities, but rekindled in 2001 following the events of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Between 2002 and 2011 military and security aid valued at USD14.17 billion was pledged to Pakistan by Washington. The sums committed increased significantly throughout the 2000s, from USD77 million in 2001 to USD2.7 billion in 2010. Total US aid to Pakistan mushroomed by 2,273 per cent from pre-9/11 level in FY2001 up to 2010, according to the US CRS.
Aid to bolster military and security activities have taken numerous forms, with budgets allocated by the US Department of Defense and the Department of State.
CSFs have accounted for nearly half of US financial aid to Pakistan post 2001: a total of USD7.38 billion between 2001 and 2010, according to US figures. In common with other CSF recipients, Pakistan has been reimbursed via the Pentagon's funds for logistical and operational assistance provided in relation to US-led counter-terrorism operations.
The CSF payments are used to fund Pakistani Army operations and "help to keep more than 100,000 Pakistani troops in the field in northwest Pakistan by paying for their food, clothing and housing. They also compensate Islamabad for coalition usage of Pakistani airfields and seaports", according to a CRS report published in June 2011.
Other DoD-run funds likely to be affected have provided Pakistan with Mi-17 multirole helicopters, King Air 350 surveillance aircraft, "450 vehicles for the Frontier Corps, 20 Buffalo explosives detection and disposal vehicles, hundreds of M141 Bunker Defeat Munitions, helicopter spare parts, sophisticated explosives detectors, night vision devices, radios, body armour, helmets, first aid kits, litters and large amounts of other individual soldier equipment", according to the report.
Counter-narcotics support also from Pentagon budgets totalled USD288 million from 2002 to 2011. International Military Education and Training (IMET - from the Department of State) totalled USD18 million; Foreign Military Financing (the provision of funds to enable the purchase of US-provided materiel and services, funded by the DoD) totalled USD2.2 billion; International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement (which covers border security) totalled USD528 million.
Non-proliferation, Anti-Terrorism, Demining, and Related (principally relating to anti-terrorism projects in the case of Pakistan) came to USD90 million; and appropriations under Article 1206 of the National Defense Authorization Act (covering the training of Pakistan's personnel) totalled USD212 million.
The Pakistan Counterinsurgency Fund/Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund (inaugurated in 2009 and initially covered by the Pentagon, yet funded by the Department of State from 2010) totalled USD1.9 billion up to 2011.
There has frequently been a substantial difference between an agreed budget and actual disbursement, however. The PCCF allocation totalled USD400 million for 2009, according to the CRS, yet just USD125 million was received by Pakistan as a result of actual project requirements.
Pakistan dismisses 'symbolic' $800m cut in US aid
Guy Anderson Defence Industry Editor - London
James Hardy Asia-Pacific Editor - London
Farhan Bokhari Correspondent - Islamabad
Pakistani government officials dismissed reports on 11 July that the US is to cut military and security aid by USD800 million as a "symbolic" gesture, albeit one that carries the message that "relations are worsening, not getting better".
Officials in Islamabad told they had not yet been formally notified of the Obama administration's decision, which emerged through US media outlets over the previous days.
The New York Times reported the funding suspension on 9 July, while White House Chief of Staff William Daley appeared to confirm the report on ABC News' This Week with Christiane Amanpour programme on 10 July, in which he said that Pakistani authorities had "taken some steps that have given us [Washington] reason to pause on some of the aid which we're giving to the military".
The decision reflects a relationship between Washington and Islamabad that has become increasingly tense, notably as Pakistan seeks to reassert its independence following the raid by US personnel that culminated in the assassination of Osama bin Laden in May. Its response included the expulsion of about 100 US military trainers and efforts to close down a US unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) facility at Shamsi airfield in Baluchistan Province.
It has been indicated that the USD800 million sum mentioned by Daley include USD300 million allocated under Coalition Support Funds (CSF): the facility used to reimburse Pakistan for costs relating to logistics and operational efforts in support of US operations. Other funds affected are believed to relate to the US military trainers that had been ordered out of the country.
Pakistan has emerged as one of the world's principal recipients of US military and security funding following the renewal of relations in 2001 after a decade of sanctions and suspended funding. The thaw was a reflection of Pakistan's significance to US activities following the terror attacks of 11 September 2001.
However, US aid for military and security efforts in Pakistan - which make up the bulk of US financial support provided to the country (see below) - has proved contentious, with a growing swell of political dissent noticeable in Washington.
reported in June that a funding bill passed by the US House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations proposed that 75 per cent of US military aid to Pakistan be withheld until the Obama administration told Congress how the money would be spent. The 2012 appropriations bill proposed that only 25 per cent of the USD1.1 billion Pakistan Counter-Insurgency Fund (PCCF) be made available to Islamabad.
When contacted by on 11 July, the US Department of State was unable to elaborate on the specific funding streams to which the USD800m sum related. However, a spokesman confirmed that all US aid to Pakistan remains "under review".
FOREIGN MILITARY FINANCING (FMF)
While the CSF and PCCF funding streams available to Pakistan are threatened, the FMF tranches - which provide equipment and services relating to longer-term modernisation but not awarded in cash - appear on safer ground. There has been no suggestion to date that FMF is threatened.
FMF - which typically feeds through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) scheme, also administered by the Defence Security and Co-operation agency (DSCA) branch of the DoD - has been of substantial benefit to the US industrial base given that funding filters back to US contractors.
Pakistan has been allocated goods and services valued at USD2.1 billion since 2002 and has purchased materiel and related services valued at USD5.4 billion over the same period.
FMF aid has typically been directed towards the purchase of surplus or obsolete US materiel, such as eight former USN P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft (valued at USD474 million including refurbishment); 5,600 military radios from the US Excess Defense Articles (EDA) inventory (USD186 million); and six surplus C-130E transport aircraft (USD76 million).
It is notable that larger procurements of new materiel have typically been funded from core Pakistani procurement budgets, an example being the acquisition of 18 new F-16C/D Block 50/52 combat aircraft (under a USD1.43 billion agreement).
Agreements funded by a combination of FMF and core Pakistani funds include, according to the US Congressional Research Service, the purchase of 115 M-109 self-propelled howitzers (a USD87 million procurement, of which USD53 million was provided as FMF).
PAKISTANI - REACTION TO THE US WITHHOLDING AID
Pakistani officials had not been formally notified of Washington's decision to withhold aid as of 11 July, although officials reacted by saying that the decision was unlikely to prove helpful.
A senior Pakistani government official told that the US decision will give further impetus to anti-US public opinion and make it additionally difficult for both sides to salvage a relationship that has been under stress since US Navy SEALs tracked down and killed Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil in May.
"The US-Pakistan relationship is under a great deal of stress. The US decision to scale down military assistance to Pakistan will further raise the level of public anger in Pakistan," the official said. However, a Western defence official in Islamabad said that in the short term. He added that Washington's decision was more of "a symbolic nature than of greater substance".
The Pakistani Army was already expecting a "scaling down of US assistance" after the Bin Laden raid and the subsequent friction in relations. He said the reported cut in the CSF of USD300 million suggests the US wants to "carry on with the majority of its CSF support to Pakistan" but added that "the message to Pakistan is still that relations are worsening, not getting better".
US MILITARY AID TO PAKISTAN - BACKGROUND
Pakistan has ranked as one of the world's principal recipients of US aid. Of the USD30 billion committed to Pakistan since 1948, 50 per cent has been related to military and security programmes.
Military and security aid was suspended in 1990 by the first Bush administration as a result of Pakistan's nuclear activities, but rekindled in 2001 following the events of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Between 2002 and 2011 military and security aid valued at USD14.17 billion was pledged to Pakistan by Washington. The sums committed increased significantly throughout the 2000s, from USD77 million in 2001 to USD2.7 billion in 2010. Total US aid to Pakistan mushroomed by 2,273 per cent from pre-9/11 level in FY2001 up to 2010, according to the US CRS.
Aid to bolster military and security activities have taken numerous forms, with budgets allocated by the US Department of Defense and the Department of State.
CSFs have accounted for nearly half of US financial aid to Pakistan post 2001: a total of USD7.38 billion between 2001 and 2010, according to US figures. In common with other CSF recipients, Pakistan has been reimbursed via the Pentagon's funds for logistical and operational assistance provided in relation to US-led counter-terrorism operations.
The CSF payments are used to fund Pakistani Army operations and "help to keep more than 100,000 Pakistani troops in the field in northwest Pakistan by paying for their food, clothing and housing. They also compensate Islamabad for coalition usage of Pakistani airfields and seaports", according to a CRS report published in June 2011.
Other DoD-run funds likely to be affected have provided Pakistan with Mi-17 multirole helicopters, King Air 350 surveillance aircraft, "450 vehicles for the Frontier Corps, 20 Buffalo explosives detection and disposal vehicles, hundreds of M141 Bunker Defeat Munitions, helicopter spare parts, sophisticated explosives detectors, night vision devices, radios, body armour, helmets, first aid kits, litters and large amounts of other individual soldier equipment", according to the report.
Counter-narcotics support also from Pentagon budgets totalled USD288 million from 2002 to 2011. International Military Education and Training (IMET - from the Department of State) totalled USD18 million; Foreign Military Financing (the provision of funds to enable the purchase of US-provided materiel and services, funded by the DoD) totalled USD2.2 billion; International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement (which covers border security) totalled USD528 million.
Non-proliferation, Anti-Terrorism, Demining, and Related (principally relating to anti-terrorism projects in the case of Pakistan) came to USD90 million; and appropriations under Article 1206 of the National Defense Authorization Act (covering the training of Pakistan's personnel) totalled USD212 million.
The Pakistan Counterinsurgency Fund/Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund (inaugurated in 2009 and initially covered by the Pentagon, yet funded by the Department of State from 2010) totalled USD1.9 billion up to 2011.
There has frequently been a substantial difference between an agreed budget and actual disbursement, however. The PCCF allocation totalled USD400 million for 2009, according to the CRS, yet just USD125 million was received by Pakistan as a result of actual project requirements.