Congress Sets Limits on Aid to Pakistan (Pakistan and U.S. relations)

[ProSense]

Pakistan’s Dictator

When $10 Billion Is Not Enough: Rethinking U.S. Strategy toward Pakistan (spring 2007 article)

Live Blogging State of Emergency in Pakistan

Musharraf Adopts Bush-Cheney Doctrine of "Lawfare"

While Pakistan Burns

Kerry, Biden Introduce Pakistan Resolution Condemning State of Emergency

"Today no other country on earth is arguably more dangerous than Pakistan."

Rice aide, "Thank heavens for small favors" (that Pakistan is distracting from Iraq)

"Undebated Challenges" and "The collapse of Bush's foreign policy"

Pakistan's Bhutto killed in attack

By SADAQAT JAN and ZARAR KHAN, Associated Press Writers 6 minutes ago

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in a suicide attack that also killed at least 20 others at the end of a campaign rally, aides said.

"The surgeons confirmed that she has been martyred," Bhutto's lawyer Babar Awan said.

A party security adviser said Bhutto was shot in neck and chest as she got into her vehicle to leave the rally in Rawalpindi near the capital Islamabad. A gunman then blew himself up.

"At 6:16 p.m. she expired," said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto's party who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital where she was taken after the attack.

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[ProSense]

1. Congress Sets Limits on Aid to Pakistan

Congress Sets Limits on Aid to Pakistan

Bill Withholds $50 Million Until U.S. Confirms Islamabad Is Reinstating Rights

By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 20, 2007; Page A24

Congress yesterday slapped restrictions on military aid to Pakistan and withheld $50 million of the administration's $300 million request until Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice can certify that Islamabad is restoring democratic rights, including an independent judiciary.

The congressional move went further than the administration's own review of aid to Pakistan after the Nov. 3 declaration of emergency powers by President Pervez Musharraf. In a decision that received little notice, the administration decided earlier this month to stop making an annual $200 million cash payment to the Pakistani government, instead converting those funds to programs for Pakistan that will be administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

<...>

Regarding Pakistan, lawmakers not only withheld a portion of the money sought by the administration but also strictly limited the use of the remaining $250 million to "counter-terrorism and law enforcement activities directed against Al Qaeda and the Taliban and associated terrorist groups." The language is intended to make if difficult for Pakistan to use the money to acquire F-16 jets or Sidewinder missiles, which are aimed at neighboring India, not terrorists.

<...>

To release the $50 million, the legislation says, Rice must certify that Pakistan is "making concerted efforts" against terrorist havens and is implementing a long list of democratic reforms, including ensuring freedom of assembly and expression, releasing political detainees, ending harassment and detention of journalists, human rights defenders and government critics, and restoring an independent judiciary.

Congress also appropriated up to $350 million in economic aid to Pakistan and up to $5 million for administrative expenses needed by USAID to manage the $200 million in funds that had previously been given as a check to the Pakistani Ministry of Finance. The agency had estimated it needed about 31 people to make grants and monitor projects run by nongovernmental groups. "None of the funds appropriated by this Act may be made available for cash transfer assistance for Pakistan," the bill says.

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[ProSense]

2. Andrea Mitchell just reported this.

Says she was just told Congress put conditions on the aid to Pakistan.

Right!

[ProSense]

3. May 2007: Violence rages in Pakistan as admin spins progress in Bush's war on terror

Violence rages in Pakistan as admin spins progress in Bush's war on terror