India's External Affairs Minister SM Krishna hails US decision to suspend aid to Pakistan

NEW DELHI: India has welcomed the US decision to withhold or cut military aid to Pakistan by a third, or over $800 million annually, saying the move will reduce the presence of arms in the volatile South Asian neighbourhood.

The US decision over the weekend, coupled with the statement of a top US official that he believed the government of Pakistan "sanctioned" the murder of journalist Saleem Shahzad, is being seen as a low point in the relations between the US and its problem-ally Pakistan. It is also seen as a move that might nudge Pakistan towards regional powers, such as China.

"With reference to the special circumstances between India and Pakistan and how India has consistently taken the view that it is not desirable that this region had to be heavily armed by the US which will upset the equilibrium in the region itself. To that extent India welcomes this step," External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said in New Delhi.

The suspended aid, which is about one-third of the $2 billion in annual American security assistance to Pakistan, includes about $300 million to reimburse Pakistan for some of the costs of deploying over 100,000 soldiers along the Afghan border to combat terrorism. It also comprises millions of dollars in training assistance and military hardware.

Krishna said: "Simultaneously the US must take note of the fact that we are working in a very committed manner to normalise our relations with Pakistan to reduce trust deficit, and efforts are on."

The minister said he was expecting his Pakistani counterpart to visit the country around the end of this month to carry forward the dialogue process. Foreign secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan concluded last month in Islamabad without any major breakthrough.

The relations between Pakistan and the US have been strained since the Abbottabad raid that killed bin Laden and implicated at least sections of the Pakistan’s military-political establishment as complicit in harbouring him. Pakistan subsequently arrested military officers suspected of spying for US intelligence agencies.

Strain in the US-Pak relations had already deepened after topranking US military official, Chairman of Joint Chief of Staffs Admiral Mike Mullen, last week said the Pakistan government had "sanctioned" the kidnap, torture and murder of journalist Saleem Shahzad.

Last week, Pakistan decided to expel more than a 100 US military trainers and tighten the process of granting visas to US military personnel. The move provoked immediate slashing of US aid, a subject of heated debate within the Obama administration since the killing of bin Laden.

"They've taken some steps that have given us reason to pause on some of the aid which we're giving to the military, and we're trying to work through that," Obama's Chief of Staff William Daley told an American television station.

Pakistan Army spokesperson Major General Athar Abbas said the country has received no intimation from the US about the aid cuts. "...Army in the past as well as at present has conducted successful military operations using its own resources without any external support whatsoever," Abbas said.