WASHINGTON: The US Senate approved economic and security assistance on Thursday evening to bolster PakistanÂ’s development and counterinsurgency capabilities as part of a massive $91.3 billion supplemental bill for Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The House of Representative has already passed a similar bill, and a reconciled version would now be presented to US President Barack Obama for his endorsement early next month. The Senate measure allows the Obama administration to use $400 million to build PakistanÂ’s counterinsurgency capability, as part of a $3 billion, five-year programme.
It allows more than $500 million to be used for PakistanÂ’s economic development, strengthening law-enforcement agencies and good governance, providing humanitarian assistance and funding counter-narcotics and economic support programmes. In addition, nearly $900 million would flow into Pakistan for US diplomatic operations and improvement of security at its diplomatic missions in the country.