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US Announces New $2 Billion Military Aid Package to Pakistan

   David Gollust | State Department 22 October 2010
   Secretary  of State Hillary Clinton (L) and Pakistani Foreign Minister
   Mahmood  Qureshi  arrive  to  start  the  US-Pakistan Dialogue Plenary
   Session at the State Department in Washington

Photo: AFP

   US  Secretary  of  State  Hillary  Clinton  (L)  and Pakistani Foreign
   Minister  Mahmood  Qureshi  arrive  to  start the US-Pakistan Dialogue
   Plenary  Session  at  the  State Department in Washington, DC, 22 Oct.
   2010.

   The Obama administration Friday pledged to seek $2 billion in military
   aid  to  Pakistan  over five years to help that country defeat violent
   extremism.  The pledge came at a bilateral dialogue at which Pakistani
   Foreign  Minister  Shah  Mehmood Qureshi said his government will give
   "no space" to terrorists on its soil.
   The  aid  pledge,  announced  by  Secretary  of State Hillary Clinton,
   provides a long-term U.S. security  commitment along the lines of the
   five-year,  $7.5 billion civilian aid package for Pakistan approved by
   Congress last year.
   Clinton said the Obama administration will ask Congress for $2 billion
   in military aid for Pakistan for each year from 2012 to 2016.
   The  yearly pledges constitute an increase in the roughly $1.5 billion
   in military aid provided in recent years, and gives Pakistan a measure
   of confidence about the continuity of U.S. support.
   The  United States has full confidence in Pakistan's commitment to the
   anti-terrorist fight, said Clinton.
   "I  want  to  say  publicly  what  many of us have said privately: the
   United   States   has   no   stronger   partner   when   it  comes  to
   counter-terrorism  efforts against the extremists who threaten us both
   than  Pakistan,  Secretary  Clinton said. "We recognize and appreciate
   the  sacrifice  and  service  that the men and women, particularly the
   soldiers  of  the  military in Pakistan, have made in order to restore
   order  and  go  after  those who threaten the very institutions of the
   state of Pakistan."
   U.S.  officials  have  in  recent  weeks  praised  Pakistan's military
   efforts  against factions linked to al-Qaida and the Pakistani wing of
   the  Taliban.  But  they  have   urged  stronger  efforts against the
   Haqqani   network   and   other   factions  fighting  NATO  troops  in
   Afghanistan, operating out of camps in Pakistan.
   In his comments, at the plenary meeting of the U.S.-Pakistan Strategic
   Dialogue,  Pakistani  Foreign  Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi expressed
   irritation  over  what  he  said are U.S. insinuations that Pakistan's
   effort against extremism is lacking.
   Pakistan,  he  said,  has  sustained  30,000 civilian deaths in recent
   years  in  a "daily fare of suicide bombings" and other attacks. 7,000
   Pakistani soldiers and police have lost their lives in the struggle --
   more than combined NATO losses in Afghanistan, Qureshi added.
   "Nonetheless,  it  unfortunately  seems  easy  to  dismiss  Pakistan's
   contributions   and   sacrifices.   There  are  still  tongue-in-cheek
   comments,  even  in  this  capital,  about Pakistan's heart not really
   being  in  this fight," he said. "We do not know what greater evidence
   to  offer  than  the  blood  of  our  people. Madame Secretary, we are
   determined to win this fight."
   Qureshi  also  pointed out that Pakistan will not "allow any space" to
   terrorists  on  its  territory,  and that "there can be no distinction
   between  good and bad terrorists," an apparent response to suggestions
   that Pakistan's anti-terrorist efforts have been selective.
   At  the  plenary  session,  Qureshi expressed gratitude for U.S. flood
   relief  efforts,  support which Clinton said will continue as Pakistan
   moves  toward  long-term  recovery.  Clinton  again  urged Pakistan to
   reform  its  tax system to yield more funds for flood relief and other
   needs from its wealthy.
   Qureshi,  for  his  part,  complained  about  what  he said has been a
   "deafening silence" by world leaders about some 100 recent deaths in a
   crackdown by Indian security forces on protestors in disputed Kashmir.
   And  he  said  he  hoped for a more assertive U.S. role on Kashmir and
   other  South Asian issues when President Obama visits India early next
   month.

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