US bill allocates $1.1 bn to Pak for counter-insurgency ops

WASHINGTON: A sum of $1.1 billion has been allocated to Pakistan for counter-insurgency operations under the draft US defence spending bill, which also threatens to withhold three-fourth of this amount till Pentagon provides a report to Congress on the strategy and metrics for its use.

The draft of the 2012 Defence Appropriations Bill, released by a House of Representatives Committee yesterday, also allocates USD 13 billion in funding for training and equipping of Afghan Security forces.

The bill includes language to withhold 75 per cent of the USD 1.1 billion Counter-insurgency Capability Funds for Pakistan until the Secretary of Defence provides a report to Congress on a strategy and metrics for the use of these funds, according to a press statement issued by the House Appropriations Committee.

Such a conditional measure has been included in the defence appropriations bill in the wake of killing of Osama bin Laden by US forces near Islamabad, which has intensified efforts by several US lawmakers to demand condition-based aid to Pakistan.

According to the draft of the Appropriations Bill, the Secretary of Defense also needs to provide to the Congress a listing of the terrorist or extremist groups in Pakistan opposing US goals in the region and against which the US encourages Pakistan to take action, and discussions on gaps in capabilities of Pakistani security units that hamper its ability to take action against these outfits.