Washington: Two top US senators unveiled plans Monday to expand and overhaul civilian US aid to Pakistan, calling it an urgent step to help defeat Islamists who threaten the nuclear-armed ally’s stability.
Democrat John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Republican Richard Lugar, the panel’s ranking member, introduced legislation calling for tripling US civilian aid to Pakistan to 1.5 billion dollars per year over the next five years.
The move came as US President Barack Obama was to host presidents Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan for talks Wednesday aimed at defeating Islamist extremists who threaten both governments.
Asked whether there was still time to help Zardari, Kerry replied: “While governments might change at some point in time — who knows? — I don’t believe the country itself is about to fall apart.”
Kerry said about 100 million dollars would go to police reforms, training, and equipment, and left the door open to some funds going to Pakistan’s military, if needed.
Lugar, the panel’s ranking Republican, underscored that the measure “is not a blank check,” pointing to requirements that Pakistan security forces “turn their attention to the extremist dangers within Pakistan’s borders.”
The three-way summit on Wednesday comes amid growing concerns in Washington that Taliban fighters pushing ever-deeper into Pakistan could get their hands on the country’s nuclear arsenal.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama would raise concerns on that front during the talks, but sidestepped questions about a New York Times report that US officials are growing more anxious about the issue.
But the top US military chief, Admiral Michael Mullen, said the arsenal was secure and ruled out that atomic weapons could fall into the hands of Taliban militants.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen … but it is a strategic concern that we all share,” said Mullen, who declared: “I remain comfortable that the nuclear weapons in Pakistan are secure.”
Kerry and Lugar were to host Karzai and Zardari as well as US special envoy Richard Holbrooke at a 70-guest lunch in the US Capitol on Thursday to flesh out the legislative proposal, aides said.
Lugar said Obama, Karzai and Zardari ought to discuss the nuclear issue “very candidly” this week and said Pakistan may need more security help “to make certain that there is that safety, for them, for us and for the world.”
The new legislation aims to reassure Pakistan’s population of 170 million people that the United States stands with them and does not link aid from Washington to whatever governments sits in Islamabad.
It conditions US military help on certification that Pakistan security forces are doing their utmost against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban from using Pakistan’s territory as a base while “not materially interfering” in the country’s political or judicial processes.
It also calls for “benchmarks for measuring the effectiveness of US assistance” at a time when many in the US Congress are openly skeptical of the effectiveness and desirability of boosting US aid to Islamabad.
It would also require US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in cooperation with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, to craft annual reports on Pakistani security forces.
Clinton would also be directed to work up a comprehensive strategy with Gates and Blair for coping with violence along Pakistan and Afghanistan’s shared border.
The non-military assistance would aim to bolster Pakistan’s democratic institutions and to foster lasting economic growth, notably through sweeping education reforms.
“It will be Pakistanis, not Americans, who must determine their nation’s future. But we can change the nature of our relationship and empower those Pakistanis who are fighting to steer the world’s second-largest Muslim country onto a path of moderation, stability, and regional cooperation,” said Kerry.
