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US links Pakistan aid to performance

Tehmasib

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Dec 15, 2010
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WASHINGTON: The White House has started conditioning the award of billions of dollars in security assistance to Pakistan on whether Islamabad shows progress on a secret scorecard of US objectives to combat Al-Qaeda and its militant allies. The US also is asking Pakistan to take specific steps to ease bilateral tensions.

The classified system, put in place after the US raid that killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden at his Pakistani hideout, signals a shift by the White House toward a pay-for-performance relationship with Pakistan, as doubts grow that the two countries can for now forge a broader alliance based on shared interests.

A senior military official called the unusual new approach "a hard-knuckled reflection of where we are right now" in relations. US officials cited the sharp breakdown in counterterrorism cooperation that followed the bin Laden raid in May and the arrest of a Central Intelligence Agency contractor in Pakistan this year.

The new approach represents an effort to salvage as much counterterrorism cooperation as the Obama administration can at a time when top US officials believe themselves in a race against time to deal a deathblow to Al-Qaeda's remaining leadership in Pakistan.

US aid to Pakistan, including economic and security-related assistance, totaled nearly $4.5 billion in fiscal 2010. Security aid accounted for more than $2.7 billion of that, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Officials say the White House has already frozen some $800 million in security assistance to Pakistan in recent months because of factors that include Islamabad's refusal to readmit American trainers and military personnel who process Pakistani reimbursement claims—items that fall into categories on the US performance checklist.

"The message is: You make progress in these areas, and we can release some of this assistance," a senior US official said of the review process. "Give us something that we can show [Congress] that we're working together."

Under the new approach, the office of the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is compiling classified scorecards that track Pakistan's cooperation in four areas, referred to in the White House as "baskets."

Each basket contains a to-do list that the administration wants from Pakistan.

Washington has told Islamabad that future payouts of security assistance would hinge on Pakistan showing it is making progress in these four areas, US officials said. The White House hasn't assigned specific dollar values to each item.

US officials say the Obama administration presented the request list to Pakistani officials in May, shortly after the bin Laden raid. The raid, carried out without Pakistani knowledge, had already fueled Pakistani concerns that the US doesn't consider Islamabad an equal partner.

A spokesman for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency denied the US had formally presented Pakistan with such a list and said it was Pakistan's prerogative to decide how to combat terrorism and conduct relations with Afghanistan.
 
it is always a good idea to link payment with performance. It will increase accountability and bring more focus on the utilisation of the funds. It will also kill some motivated propaganda by pakistani army around this aid.

In fact it will be good if the US as a pointman brings similar sanity to IMF and other World bank etc loans too. Pakistan should know that it will not ride funds from multilateralateral organization as long as it does not cease its military support to haqqani and gul bahadur et. al.
 
They really need to review their foreign policies. Firstly they dont have money to dish out and secondly the leaders might want this aid but our PEOPLE DON'T. We don't see it. It gets stolen by the leaders so please keep your aid for your own people. You are going to need it soon.
 
Wall Street Journal Article paragraphs:

By ADAM ENTOUS And SIOBHAN GORMAN
[PAKUS] Reuters

Advocates of the system say it is the only viable approach at this time. Others are critical.

"Part of it sounds paternalistic and arrogant," said Henry Crumpton, a former senior Central Intelligence Agency and State Department counterterrorism official. "It's as if you're giving a report card to a child. Instead, you [should] have a joint strategy, with an ally, and you find operations that support that strategy, and you measure progress jointly."

The four baskets are: Pakistani cooperation in exploiting the bin Laden compound; Pakistani cooperation with the war in Afghanistan; Pakistani cooperation with the U.S. in conducting joint counterterrorism operations; and cooperation in improving the overall tone in bilateral relations. Officials said the details of those baskets were classified.

Officials say Islamabad has largely complied with the main items in the first basket by returning the tail section of the helicopter that crashed in the bin Laden raid and by allowing U.S. interrogations of bin Laden's family in Pakistani custody.

But the return of the tail section—three weeks after the raid—remains a contentious issue. U.S. officials have information that suggests Pakistani officials allowed the Chinese to examine the tail rudder of the stealth helicopter before returning it. However, the information isn't conclusive. U.S. officials had asked the Pakistanis not to allow anyone else access to the helicopter.

Pakistan has also made progress toward engaging the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, citing a series of recent bilateral meetings, U.S. officials say. The U.S. wants Pakistan, however, to do more to stop the flow of fighters and explosives across its border into Afghanistan.

Officials see less progress in other areas. The U.S. wants Pakistan to authorize joint operations against al Qaeda leaders and to free a detained Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA track bin Laden. The basket that measures progress in improving the overall tone in bilateral relations includes a specific call on Pakistan to renew visas for U.S. government personnel to work in Pakistan. The CIA and the military say Pakistan has been holding back hundreds of visa requests.

Mr. Clapper's office looks at each item in each basket and assigns "green light," "yellow light" and "red light" assessments to show whether progress is being made.

According to officials, the classified score cards are presented to the so-called deputies committee of the White House National Security Council. The deputies, who represent senior members of the president's cabinet, oversee the review process and the release of security funding. Officials wouldn't say how they decide how much money to release for incremental progress by Pakistan.

While U.S. security assistance to Pakistan—such as military equipment, training and reimbursement for Pakistani military operations against militants—has been tied to progress completing items on the U.S. checklist, U.S. civilian economic and development aid to Pakistan isn't affected, U.S. officials said.

Some current and former officials say the approach shows that the goal of establishing a broad strategic partnership with Pakistan is losing support within the U.S. government.

U.S. Links Pakistani Aid to Performance - WSJ.com
 
lolz AID is big mess of our country now rid out from bloody AID for sake of sovereignty of green land damn

Man it is not that easy. I think if it was so, then by now your government (the generals ie) would have told US to pack their bags. There is certainly more to it than just Zardari siphoning off money.
 
Man it is not that easy. I think if it was so, then by now your government (the generals ie) would have told US to pack their bags. There is certainly more to it than just Zardari siphoning off money.

Looking at where the power lies in pakistan, it is not rocket science to know that zardari is just the fall guy. The real benefeciaries of the aid are not the bloody civilians. Imran bhai is right that the awaam never gets to see it but his causal analysis is wrong.

Anyway good that accountability is being asked for in return for the money. There have been too many free lunches on the way and things have been jolly good for the bunch.

Some return on the investment being asked by US is not at all unfair. Let us see what web do the jolly good fellows spin around this one.
 

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