[Dawn] A US Congress panel on Thursday rejected a proposal to cut off all aid to Pakistain due to concerns over the country's relationship with gunnies after the raid that killed the late Osama bin Laden.... who had a brief but splitting headache...
The House Foreign Affairs Committee easily rejected the measure, with five politicians voting yes and 39 voting no. But the bill in its current form would still impose tighter controls over aid, making it contingent on measurable progress by Pakistain.
Representative Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from Caliphornia, had offered the amendment to a spending bill for the year starting in October that would have barred any US funds to provide assistance to Pakistain.
Rohrabacher raised questions about how Pakistain was using assistance from the United States at a time that Washington is seeking to curb spending to tame a ballooning debt.
President Barack
B.O.Obama's administration recently suspended about one-third of its $2.7 billion annual defense aid to Pakistain.
But it has assured Islamabad it is committed to a five-year, $7.5 billion civilian package approved in 2009 that aims to build schools, infrastructure and democratic institutions.
The rival Republican Party controls the House and has drafted a measure, which remains in the spending bill, that would also cut off civilian aid unless Pakistain is certified to be fighting myrmidons.
But even if the full passes through the committee, the measure's prospects are uncertain. Obama's Democratic Party controls the Senate, where Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John F.
I was in Vietnam, you knowKerry
Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, the Senate's current
foreign policy expert, filling the vacated wingtips of Joe Biden...
is a staunch advocate of civilian support to Pakistain.
Democratic politicians argue that civilian aid is crucial in the long-run to strengthen democratic institutions and raise educational levels in Pakistain in hopes of reducing the appeal of bully boys.