US withholds military aid to Pakistan
* White House chief of staff says Pakistan has ‘taken some steps’ that have given US ‘reason to pause’ on aid
* NYT says move aimed at chastening Pakistan for expelling US military trainers and to press its army to fight terrorists more effectively
WASHINGTON: The United States is withholding some $800 million in military assistance to Pakistan in a show of displeasure over its cutback on US trainers, limits on visas for US personnel and other rubs, the Obama administration said on Sunday.
“They’ve taken some steps that have given us reason to pause on some of the aid which we’re giving to the military, and we’re trying to work through that,” US President Barack Obama’s chief of staff William Daley told ABC’s “This Week With Christiane Amanpour”, after a New York Times report said $800 million was being withheld.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had warned last month that the United States could slow down US military aid to Pakistan unless it took unspecified steps to help the US. There has been increasing pressure in Washington on the Obama administration — which provided $2.7 billion in security assistance last year to Islamabad — to hold back on aid.
According to the New York Times, about $800 million in military aid and equipment, or over one-third of the more than $2 billion in annual US security assistance to Pakistan, could be affected by the suspension.
Asked by ABC about the report, Daley did not dispute the figures and confirmed that some military aid was now being withheld. “The truth of the matter is, our relationship with Pakistan is very complicated,” he said.
“Obviously there’s still a lot of pain that the political system in Pakistan is feeling by virtue of the raid that we did to get bin Laden. Something that the president felt strongly about. We have no regrets over.” “The Pakistani relationship is difficult, but it must be made to work over time. But until we get through these difficulties, we’ll hold back some of the money that the American taxpayers have committed to give.”
The New York Times said the suspended aid included about $300 million to reimburse Pakistan for some of the costs of deploying more than 100,000 soldiers along the Afghan border, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars in training assistance and military hardware.
Some of the aid to Pakistan, the Times reports, like night-vision goggles, radios and helicopter spare-parts cannot be sent because Pakistan has denied visas to the American trainers needed to operate the equipment.
Other aid no longer moving to Pakistan includes equipment like rifles, body armor, ammunition and bomb disposal gear that Islamabad has since refused following its expulsion from the country in recent weeks of more than 100 army special forces trainers. Military sales to Pakistan, like F-16 fighters, and non-military aid, has not been affected, according to officials interviewed by the Times.
Source: Daily Times
Date:7/11/2011
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