Washington, May 20(ANI): Experts have pointed towards a mismatch between US hopes and the American aid provided to Pakistan.
The US has provided 20.7 billion dollars to Pakistan since 2002, a little more than two-thirds of which went to military use, the remainder to civilian, The Christian Science Monitor reports.
The biggest ticket item, at 8.9 billion dollars, is the "Coalition Support Funds"- reimbursements for Pakistan's military assistance in the war on terror.
The second largest chunk of 4.8 billion dollars falls under "Economic Support Funds", most of which has gone to shore up the government's budget, either as revenue or to pay off debt to the US.
Much less is spent on seemingly major US priorities- the Frontier Corps, the Pakistani force doing most of the fighting, has received 100 million dollars, while 90 million dollars have been spent on antiterrorism and nuclear non-proliferation efforts, the report said.
"One of the things we should be doing is training the police, but we're not doing it.... Pakistanis are not letting us. They want the Army to do everything," says C. Christine Fair, assistant professor at Georgetown University in Washington.
No one quite seems to know what the Pakistan Army has done with the money, the report said, noting that the Defense Department's 2008 report found evidence of double billing or repayment for unrelated or nonexistent efforts, including 200 million dollars for radar upgrades - even though militants have no air force that would require such radar.
Former president Pervez Musharraf later confirmed suspicions that aid had been diverted to defend against India.
"Whoever wishes to be angry, let them be angry," he said in 2009. "The Americans should know ... that we won't compromise our security, and will use the equipment everywhere."
In 2010, the US committed to providing 1.5 billion dollars annually for five years in civilian aid, but only 285 million dollars of this Kerry-Lugar-Berman Act money has been spent so far, according to the US embassy.
The US has gotten tougher on reimbursements, rejecting 44 per cent in 2009, compared with1.6 percent in 2005, according to The Wall Street Journal.
"Reimbursement claims are reviewed carefully and decisions are based on a combination of agreed formulas," says a US official in Islamabad via e-mail.
"However, we do not control what the government of Pakistan does with reimbursement funds that go into the state bank," the official added. (ANI)
|
|
Comments:
