Tuesday, December 13, 2011

U.S. Starts To Freeze Aid To Pakistan


US Agrees To Freeze $700m In Aid To Pakistan -- The Telegraph

The leaders of a US House-Senate negotiating panel have agreed to freeze $700 million in US aid to Pakistan until it offers to help in the fight against improvised explosive devices in the region, exerting more pressure on a troubled strategic ally.

Pakistan is one of the largest recipients of US foreign aid, and the cutback announced is only a small proportion of the billions in civil and military assistance it gets a year.

But it could presage greater cuts as calls grow in the United States to penalise Islamabad for failing to act against militant groups and, at worst, helping them, following the secret US raid on a Pakistan military town in which al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed.

Read more ....

My Comment:
It is a start .... but I doubt that Pakistan will comply to any of the requests for resumption of this aid. Their priority (at least for the ISI) is for the Taliban to be victorious in Afghanistan, and a few million in US aid is not going to make them change what is to them an important strategic goal.

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