timesofindia.com
US aid to Pak draws scepticism
EW YORK: The US has put together a several billion dollar aid package for Pakistan as a "reward for its support against terrorism" but the move has been met with resistance from some lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, who fear the money might be directed to underwrite militants in Kashmir.
The package includes sweeping debt rescheduling, grants stretching over many years and trade benefits, The New York Times reported.
However, the package, which would make Pakistan the largest recipient of American aid after Israel and Egypt, has encountered some resistance in Washington and abroad with the lawmakers wanting the aid for "well supervised" individual projects.
The lawmakers say the administration may have too readily agreed to give Pakistan about $600 million in cash this year and next without a reliable way of ensuring that the money would be used to improve health and education rather than to underwrite the military or the Islamic militants that Pakistan backs in Kashmir.
"If you just write a blank check it will end up in the pockets of the wrong people," representative Jim McDermott, a Washington Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, was quoted as saying.
While McDermott supports helping Pakistan with its floundering economy, he said the Bush administration had "been a little cavalier" about wiping away sanctions on Pakistan imposed after General Musharraf took power in a military coup in 1999.
Representative Jim Kolbe, an Arizona Republican who chairs the Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations, criticised the administration for granting valuable but vaguely defined "budgetary support," rather than financing well-supervised individual projects.
"I have not gotten sufficient reassurances at this point," Kolbe said.
The aid the United States provided to Pakistan and Afghan rebels during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980's, The Times says, is widely seen as having helped finance the rise of the Taliban.
Japan also recently rejected Pakistan's request to forgive the entire $5 billion it owed Tokyo. Tokyo, the paper says, has agreed, however, to delay payments on about $500 million in Pakistani debt.
The report quoting administration officials said talks between officials of the state and treasury departments and Pakistan's finance minister Shaukat Aziz have resulted in an agreement that the administration will work to secure four types of aid for Pakistan. These include grants from the US and other allies.
In addition, the Bush administration is using its influence to support new loan programs by the IMF and the World Bank, including an anti-poverty loan worth about $500 million from the IMF and possibly a line of credit, at higher rates, of some one billion.
The US has already begun calculating how to reschedule payments on the $3 billion Pakistan owes Washington. It has urged allies to do the same, and Britain has already followed suit. Bilateral loans total about $12 billion out of the country's $38 billion foreign debt.
Pakistan may also secure a higher quota or lower tariffs for its textile exports to the United States. Islamabad estimates that the war in Afghanistan will cost it some $2.5 billion this year alone, including lost trade and tourism and the expense of caring for Afghan refugees.
One senior administration official said the United States will monitor closely how the money is used. The official said Aziz had improved financial management enough to warrant more and even if the September 11 terrorist attacks had not happened.
But the official also acknowledged that Washington would support Pakistan's bid to get some extraordinary benefits.
"The reality is that this is a country that has behaved in a stalwart fashion during this crisis, and that is going to be recognised," he said. "We are going to find a unique approach for Pakistan."
The World Bank and IMF have denied any debt relief to almost half of the eligible poor countries because they are embroiled in wars, fearing that money would diverted to the military. Pakistan now has conflicts on two of its borders.
"I absolutely support debt relief for Pakistan," Ann Pettior, who heads Jubilee Plus, a British group that advocates cancelling the debts of all poor countries was quoted as saying. "But it's hypocritical to just dole out the money to Pakistan while denying help to others that are really even more in need." |
