US bill ignores Indian concerns, though puts conditions on Pak

Lalit K Jha

Washington, June 25 (PTI) The Kerry-Lugar bill, which
triples US aid to Islamabad, seems to have ignored New Delhi's
concern about use of Pakistani soil for terror attacks in
India, even as it requires presidential certification that the
Pakistan Army is making "concerted efforts" against Taliban.

The bill, which was unanimously passed by the US
Senate Wednesday, requires annual certification from the US
President that the Pakistani security forces are "making
concerted efforts to prevent the Taliban from using the
territory of Pakistan as a sanctuary from which to launch
attacks within Afghanistan."

By doing so, the Kerry-Lugar bill, which is supported
by the Obama Administration, indicates that its focus is on
Afghanistan and appears to be mute on the terrorist attacks
carried out by terrorists groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and
Jaish-e-Mohammad in various parts of India, which the United
States is very well aware of.

In fact, it was the US which was instrumental in the
UN declaring both LeT and JeM as terrorist organisations.

The House version of the bill, which was passed on
June 11, in its initial phases did mention this fact and
imposed conditions that Pakistani soil would not be used to
launch any terrorist attack in India was deleted after hue and
cry from Islamabad and reservations expressed by the Obama
Administration.

However, the Senate bill asks for several presidential
certifications from, with regard to aid to Pakistan. It
requires benchmarks for measuring the effectiveness of US
assistance, including a systematic, qualitative basis for
assessing whether desired outcomes are achieved.

It requires the President to submit a semi-annual
report to Congress that describes in detail the assistance
provided to Pakistan under this Act and assesses the
effectiveness of US assistance thus far, including any
incidents of waste, fraud, and abuse.

It also requires the Secretary of State, after
consulting with the Secretary of Defence and the Director of
National Intelligence, to submit to Congress an annual report
on the progress of the Pakistani security forces.

The bill authorizes new money for administrative
expenses, up to USD 20 million for auditing expenses, and up
to USD 5 million for the US Ambassador to Pakistan to provide
critical need development or humanitarian assistance.

It urges accountability and transparent reporting of
Coalition Support Funds to further clarify purposes and
impact. PTI