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To: HG who wrote (327)	10/27/2001 10:18:28 PM
From: HG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1595

Georgie.....ever heard of audit trail ? Opposition to US aid for Pak tehelka.com US lawmakers fear the several billion dollar aid might be directed to underwrite militants in Kashmir New York, Oct 26 (PTI): 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 dollars 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, criticized 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 five billion dollars it owed Tokyo. Tokyo, the paper says, has agreed, however, to delay payments on about 500 million dollars in Pakistani debt. The report quoting administration officials said talks between officials of the State and Treasury departments and Shaukat Aziz, Pakistan's finance minister, 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 dollars from the IMF and possibly a line of credit, at higher rates, of some one billion.