Gold9472
04-13-2009, 07:02 PM
Pakistan warns Kerry against aid conditions
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Pakistan_warns_Kerry_against_aid_co_04132009.html
4/13/2009
Pakistan accused the United States and the West on Monday of generating "ill will" and warned US Senator John Kerry against attaching conditions to a massive aid package.
The chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has backed a bill that would triple economic assistance for Pakistan, a key US ally in the fight against Islamist militants, to 7.5 billion dollars over five years.
But Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani criticised conditions attached to the package.
Although the bill meets some long-standing requests for military equipment, it requires the White House to certify that Pakistan is fighting terror and that its military and intelligence services do not support extremists.
Pakistan must also close all terror camps in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and work to prevent cross-border attacks into Afghanistan.
But a statement from Gilani's office quoted the prime minister as saying: "The US should not attach conditionalities to the assistance package being presented to the US Congress, as aid with strings attached would fail to generate the desired goodwill and results in Pakistan."
Relations between Pakistan and the United States should be based on "mutual respect and mutual trust and both sides should work together to reduce the trust deficit," Gilani said.
"The prime minister also pointed out that the negative messaging emanating from the US and the West was generating ill will," the statement added.
US officials have publicly criticised Pakistan's powerful intelligence services -- which have a history of supporting Islamist militants to fight in Indian-controlled Kashmir and in Afghanistan -- for supporting extremists.
Pakistan is also deeply opposed to drone attacks -- about 37 of which have killed more than 360 people since August 2008 -- saying they violate its territorial sovereignty and deepen resentment in the nuclear-armed nation.
US drone attacks and "collateral damage" were impeding Pakistan's efforts to eradicate Islamist militancy and terror, Gilani said.
Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari's office said Kerry and Zardari met to discuss various issues, including economic challenges and the "war on terror."
Zardari called financial aid "essential" and requested the swift passage of the aid bill and legislation to create reconstruction opportunity zones in violence-torn tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
"Generous support from the international community will help (in) strengthening democracy in the country," Zardari said.
The US embassy in Islamabad confirmed only that Kerry was in the country for meetings with Pakistani leaders and representatives of civil society.
US President Barack Obama has put Pakistan at the centre of the fight against Al-Qaeda under a new strategy to turn around the flagging Afghan war.
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Pakistan_warns_Kerry_against_aid_co_04132009.html
4/13/2009
Pakistan accused the United States and the West on Monday of generating "ill will" and warned US Senator John Kerry against attaching conditions to a massive aid package.
The chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has backed a bill that would triple economic assistance for Pakistan, a key US ally in the fight against Islamist militants, to 7.5 billion dollars over five years.
But Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani criticised conditions attached to the package.
Although the bill meets some long-standing requests for military equipment, it requires the White House to certify that Pakistan is fighting terror and that its military and intelligence services do not support extremists.
Pakistan must also close all terror camps in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and work to prevent cross-border attacks into Afghanistan.
But a statement from Gilani's office quoted the prime minister as saying: "The US should not attach conditionalities to the assistance package being presented to the US Congress, as aid with strings attached would fail to generate the desired goodwill and results in Pakistan."
Relations between Pakistan and the United States should be based on "mutual respect and mutual trust and both sides should work together to reduce the trust deficit," Gilani said.
"The prime minister also pointed out that the negative messaging emanating from the US and the West was generating ill will," the statement added.
US officials have publicly criticised Pakistan's powerful intelligence services -- which have a history of supporting Islamist militants to fight in Indian-controlled Kashmir and in Afghanistan -- for supporting extremists.
Pakistan is also deeply opposed to drone attacks -- about 37 of which have killed more than 360 people since August 2008 -- saying they violate its territorial sovereignty and deepen resentment in the nuclear-armed nation.
US drone attacks and "collateral damage" were impeding Pakistan's efforts to eradicate Islamist militancy and terror, Gilani said.
Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari's office said Kerry and Zardari met to discuss various issues, including economic challenges and the "war on terror."
Zardari called financial aid "essential" and requested the swift passage of the aid bill and legislation to create reconstruction opportunity zones in violence-torn tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
"Generous support from the international community will help (in) strengthening democracy in the country," Zardari said.
The US embassy in Islamabad confirmed only that Kerry was in the country for meetings with Pakistani leaders and representatives of civil society.
US President Barack Obama has put Pakistan at the centre of the fight against Al-Qaeda under a new strategy to turn around the flagging Afghan war.