Despite strain US proposes USD 3.1 billion for Pakistan

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Feb 15 (PTI) Despite a stand off with
Pakistan over the issue of jailing of its diplomat Raymond
Davis, US has not proposed any slashing of aid to Islamabad,
and for the second year in running has allocated a whopping
USD 3.1 billion as assistance to the country for 2012.
President Barack Obama has kept up the aid levels to
Pakistan and of the huge allocation a staggering USD 1.1
billion is to provide critical equipment and training for
Pakistani security forces, increasing the ability of the
Pakistani government to combat insurgents inside that country
and eliminating the insurgent's capacity to conduct
cross-border operations in Afghanistan that jeopardise US
lives and the mission there.
In 2010, Pakistan had received USD 79 million under
the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) Budget, which is
estimated to jump to USD 1.3 billion in 2011.
Obama has requested USD 73.6 billion for the State
Department in its USD 3.73 trillion budget for the next fiscal
year and of this a significant portion has been allocated for
programmes in Pakistan, Afghanistan as well as Iraq, where US
is likely to face problems as withdrawal of American troops
continues.
In a significant development, the American budget
retains major assistant programmes for US allies in the Middle
East including USD 1.5 billion for Egypt. But US officials
warn that money for the country which include USD 1.3 billion
military aid could be altered depending on developments.
The stepped up military assistance to Pakistan will
come under the Overseas Contingency Operations Budget.

The bulk of American assistance USD 1.9 billion has
been proposed to promote a secure, stable, democratic and
prosperous Pakistan with a capacity to govern effectively and
accountably.
The major focus of the civil aid is on energy,
economic growth, agriculture, the delivery of health and
education services. USD 1.5 billion of this is part of the
Kerry-Lugar-Berman Bill.
Another USD 45 million has been proposed in operations
to support infrastructure for maintaining the US government
civilian and diplomatic presence and to support educational
and cultural exchange programs to build bridges with civil
society.
"We have USD 350 million in that part of the budget
for FMF (Foreign Military Financing) programs, which is part
of the five-year agreement that we have made with the
government of Pakistan," a State Department official told
reporters.
"So the unique part of the budget, the extraordinary
part of the budget is the PCCF. The enduring part of the
budget is more of our economic and military assistance that’s
going to be sustainable over the long term," he said.
An OCO budget is of great help as we transition from
military-led to civilian-led operations since it provides a
mechanism through which we can view and budget for a
transition to a more normal diplomatic presence in these
countries when appropriate, the budgetary proposals said. PTI
LKJ
PRI