US-AID to Pakistan

[Patriot]

Pakistan warns lack of money may harm anti-terror war

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, June 19, IRNA -- Pakistani Premier Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani warned Saturday that public support to the anti-terror war could be badly affected if the international community failed to deliver on their pledges to help Pakistan provide relief to people hit by terrorism.

The Prime Minister was talking to Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan who called on him in the Prime Minister's House, a statement from the PM office said.

Mr Gilani termed the public support in war against terror as vitally important and stated that while the time was fast running out on his Government's rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts in the areas cleared from militants, the committed assistance, at the Tokyo Donors Conference held more than a year ago, was yet to be delivered by the donor countries.

"This delay had further accentuated the economic and energy crisis in Pakistan and the extremist elements were taking advantage of that situation," the Prime Minister told the U.S. envoy.

The Prime Minister called on the US government to continue using its influence with some of the European countries which were still hesitant in facilitating Pakistan's case for greater market access.

Gilani called upon the US to, in the meanwhile, positively consider Pakistan's request for expansion of its tariff lines for Pakistan's textile items, for providing immediate relief to Pakistan for increasing its exports and generating new job opportunities.

Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, in his response, expressed his country's complete understanding of the major security and economic challenges being faced by Pakistan and assured the Prime Minister of full US support to help it overcome them, the statement said.

Ambassador Holbrooke commended that despite all the difficulties being faced by Pakistan's economy, its growth had returned because of Government of Pakistan's economic policies and it was now for the international community to come forward to help Pakistan sustain that economic growth.







http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/pakistan/2010/pakistan-100619-irna02.htm

 

[Illusive]

US money reaching Taliban, says report

WASHINGTON: The United States is indirectly paying tens of millions of dollars in protection money to Afghan warlords, and potentially to the Taliban, to secure convoys carrying supplies to US troops in Afghanistan, congressional investigators said in a report.

The Pentagon's system of outsourcing to private companies the task of moving supplies in Afghanistan, and leaving it up to them to provide their own security, frees US troops to focus on counterinsurgency.

But its unintended consequences undermine US efforts to curtail corruption and build an effective Afghan government, according to the report to be reviewed at a congressional hearing on Tuesday.

"This arrangement has fueled a vast protection racket run by a shadowy network of warlords, strongmen, commanders, corrupt Afghan officials, and perhaps others," Representative John Tierney, chairman of a House of Representatives national security subcommittee, said in a statement.

Tierney, a Democrat, said the system "runs afoul" of the Defense Department's own rules and may be undermining the US strategic effort in Afghanistan.

The report by the subcommittee's Democratic staff called protection payments "a significant potential source of funding for the Taliban," citing numerous documents, incidents reports and emails that refer to attempts at Taliban extortion along the road.

Congressional investigators began looking into the Defense Department's $2.16 billion Host Nation Trucking (HNT) contract in November 2009. The contract covers 70 percent of the food, fuel, ammunition and other supply distributions to US troops in Afghanistan.

"HNT contractors and trucking subcontractors in Afghanistan pay tens of millions of dollars annually to local warlords across Afghanistan in exchange for 'protection' for HNT supply convoys to support US troops," the report said.

"The HNT contractors frequently referred to such payments as 'extortion,' 'bribes,' 'special security,' and/or 'protection payments,'" the document said.

Many contractors have told US military officials that warlords were demanding protection payments in exchange for safe passage and that these payments were funding the insurgency, the report said. But the contractors concerns were never appropriately addressed, it said.

It faults the Pentagon for a lack of effective oversight of its supply chain and private security contractors.

"The Department of Defense has little to no visibility into what happens to the trucks carrying US supplies between the times they leave the gate to the time they arrive at their destination," the report said.

The congressional investigators said the Defense Department must take direct responsibility for the contractors to ensure robust oversight.

They also recommended a top-to-bottom evaluation of the secondary effects of the HNT contract, including an analysis of corruption and the impact on Afghan politics.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...g-Taliban-says-report/articleshow/6077885.cms

 

[nandu]

Sailors help prepare Pakistani crew

MAYPORT NAVAL STATION, Fla. -- Over its 30-year history, the USS McInerney racked up a lot of firsts, from new propulsion systems to cutting-edge weaponry.

Now at dock at Mayport Naval Station for the final time, the crew of the oldest-serving Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate in the U.S. fleet is once again trying something new.

This time, it's figuring out how to help another crew from another country get ready to run its ship.

"It's been a learning experience as we've gone along," said Cmdr. Paul Young, commanding officer of the ship.

Shortly after the McInerney arrived home in April from its final deployment under the U.S. flag, a crew of Pakistani sailors began readying to sail the vessel to its new home more than 7,000 miles away.

At the end of August, the ship will be decommissioned - the first of Mayport's 13 frigates to be retired - and turned over to Pakistan. The country is paying upwards of $65 million to buy and refurbish the ship, money which the United States has given it as a friendly non-NATO ally.

Rechristened the PNS Alamgir, the frigate will go into a shipyard for the rest of the year before getting under way with the new crew.

A handover like this is known as a hot transfer, in which the vessel isn't packed away waiting for the new owner.

It's the preferred method for another country to take ownership, said Bob Gronenberg, deputy program manager for ship transfers at the Naval Sea Systems Command.

"We have the benefit of joint training," he said. "On-the-job training is the best form of training."

About 160 Pakistani crew members are taking part in the transfer, spending their days working on the ship and living on a berthing barge docked nearby.

Eventually, about 200 Pakistani sailors will train here and then be the ship's crew as it crosses the ocean.

Getting the Pakistanis ready for the job has fallen to the sailors who took the ship on its last U.S. deployment.

Even while still at sea, Young said, the crew was already pulling together a training plan, something that's never been done from the ground up.

"We took the core competencies that we have to do and drilled down from there," he said.

That meant looking at each piece of what the crew does - from air warfare to communications to ship handling - and figuring out how to teach them.

The captain talks with his Pakistani counterpart each day, doing his own form of training as the two discuss ship handling, daily routine aboard the vessel and other issues of command.

"They are really interested in emulating how we do business here," the captain said.

The actual teaching has gone smoothly, said some of the sailors involved in the process.

"It's easy to train people when they're ready to learn," said Petty Officer 1st Class Juan Pena.

As well as the training, the 140 U.S. crew members still aboard also take care of maintenance issues and other typical pierside jobs.

Much of that routine work is done on Friday, when the Pakistani sailors don't work

"Friday is their holy day, and Friday is our McInerney day," Young said.

The Navy looked to raise awareness of such things before the Pakistanis arrived, putting the crew through two days of sensitivity training.

"Once we got engaged, we realized we're both professionals," said Lt. Cmdr. Eric Keiser, executive officer of the ship. "Everything fell into place. Now it's like you don't even think about it."

Cultural issues have affected even seemingly minor things, such as the timing of the handover ceremony

The ship will be turned over to Pakistan during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, with the ceremony held after sunset, because observant Muslims will be fasting during the day.

Getting ready for that day just a few weeks from now has been made easier by the experience of the Pakistani crew members, who Young said already know basic seamanship and just have to learn the specifics of the McInerney.

The experience of the incoming crew is testimony to how important the vessel will be at its new home

Pakistan has focused on beefing up its navy in recent years, including buying four frigates from China last year.

"This ship will be a capital ship for Pakistan," Young said

Knowing that helps ease the pain some of the sailors feel as they prepare to say goodbye to a ship with such a storied history.

"It makes me feel good to know she'll still be fighting the fight," Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric Gordon said. "I would love to see how it turns out."

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/11/1725208/sailors-help-prepare-pakistani.html

 

[ajtr]

US aid fuels dangerous deal in Pakistan ​

By Selig S. Harrison
June 29, 2010

WITH ONE hand, Pakistan scoops up its multiplying millions in US aid. With the other, it buys nuclear reactors from China that will give it the capability to add 24 nuclear weapons per year to its estimated existing arsenal of 70 to 90.

The Obama administration is focused narrowly on the Islamist threat in Pakistan. It has soft-pedaled its opposition to Islamabad's $2.4 billion, US-subsidized purchase of two 635 megawatt reactors from Beijing for its plutonium production complex at Chasma. But precisely because Islamist forces are expanding, the United States should refocus on the growing danger that Islamist sympathizers in the armed forces and their intelligence agencies will once again make Pakistan a nuclear rogue state.

It was only six years ago that Pakistan's nuclear czar, Abdul Qadeer Khan, was arrested for running a global nuclear Walmart that enabled Iran, North Korea, and Libya to start their nuclear programs. The CIA and the International Atomic Energy Agency are still barred from questioning him because the Pakistan Army fears that he would expose the role played by high-level military officers in colluding with him and in profiting from what he did.

Several confidantes of Khan have told me that he is ready to name names. In their study of the Khan scandal, Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott-Clark concluded that Khan was "the fall guy. This covert trade in doomsday technology was not the work of one man, but the foreign policy of a nation and supervised by Pakistan's ruling military clique.''

With the Khan case still in limbo, the acquisition of more plutonium reactors on top of Islamabad's existing uranium-based nuclear program is alarming. The Obama administration expressed pro forma opposition to the Chasma deal at the New Zealand meeting last week of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a 46-nation global nuclear watchdog agency. But the United States is not using its massive aid leverage to block it, despite the fact that US aid is subsidizing the deal.

Pakistan's economic solvency rests largely on US financial support. In addition to earmarked economic and military aid and US-backed international Monetary Fund credits, US aid has included $10.5 billion in cash payments to the armed forces that are nominally to reimburse counter-terrorism activities but go into the general budget and can be diverted without US oversight to other uses. Pakistan's foreign debt is nearing $15 billion, and it is only because a US orchestrated aid consortium keeps rescheduling the debt that Pakistan remains afloat economically.

Although the Chinese-built reactors at Chasma will be under IAEA safeguards, Pakistan's Kahuta uranium enrichment plant and another plutonium reactor at Khushab are not under safeguards and are used for its nuclear weapons program. The Suppliers Group bars nuclear exports to countries that have not placed all their nuclear facilities under IAEA inspection. Nevertheless, Beijing argues, Pakistan should be given an "exception'' for the Chasma reactors because India was given one two years ago.

Both India and Pakistan have refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. India, however, has maintained strict controls on the export of nuclear technology, in accordance with NPT guidelines, and for this reason was given an "exception'' to facilitate implementation of the 2008 US civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with New Delhi. By contrast, Pakistan has the most egregious record of trampling non-proliferation norms of any country.

Pakistan, like India, needs nuclear power for electricity, and hopefully, its future evolution will some day reduce the risks of a civilian nuclear program. But for the foreseeable future, the risks of adding to its nuclear capabilities are unacceptable. The repeated Islamist attacks on Pakistan's nuclear installations in recent years make clear that the leakage of fissile material and of the components of its nuclear weapons is a clear and present danger despite IAEA safeguards.

The United States should aggressively seek China's expulsion from the Suppliers Group unless it cancels the Chasma deal. It should condition new aid to Pakistan on the termination of nuclear purchases from China, unfettered access to Khan, the full disclosure of hitherto-suppressed details of his nuclear transfers and the removal of his collaborators from Army positions related to nuclear security.

Pakistan poses many dangers to the United States, notably its aid to Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and the use of its territory for the training of would-be suicide bombers. But the greatest of all is that fissile material will be smuggled out of its nuclear facilities by undetected Islamist sympathizers and that a future leadership infiltrated by Islamists will risk a nuclear Armageddon in Mumbai or Washington.

Selig S. Harrison is director of the Asia Program at the Center for International Policy and the author of five books on South Asia.

 

[ajtr]

Pakistan to become biggest beneficiary of British aid​

* Mitchell says Pakistan will receive 140 million pounds
* Bilateral aid to Russia and China will be axed

LONDON: Pakistan is to become the biggest beneficiary of British aid, with a rise of up to 40 percent in the money it receives from the taxpayer, says a report in The Times newspaper on Saturday.

Pakistan is likely to emerge as the big winner from a review of the 2.9-billion pounds aid budget that is expected to halve the 90 countries that receive money. Within three years, Pakistan would probably receive more money from the recast budget than any other country, Andrew Mitchell, the British international development secretary, told the paper.

Mitchell said that Pakistan was a very important development partner, and it was a very high-priority programme. The 140 million pounds Pakistan received in the last financial year made it the sixth largest recipient behind India, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Sudan and Tanzania. Afghanistan will see an increase, also of up to 40 percent, in the 133 million pounds it receives from the Department for International Development (DFID).

But the department has said that bilateral aid to Russia and China will be axed, with Vietnam also facing cuts along with countries in South America and Eastern Europe. The paper said the plans for Pakistan have been under consideration for weeks and are not part of a response to the furore caused by British Prime Minister David Cameron when he accused Islamabad this week of looking both ways on terrorism.

"Of particular concern is the demographics of Pakistan. Half of the 177 million population is under 21," he said. Mitchell said there is an education emergency in Pakistan. It has more children out of school than anywhere in the world. The DFID secretary has already announced that Britain will provide for 300,000 girls to go to school and for three million textbooks.

He said that future aid would also go towards helping to build up civic society, the reach of the state and its ability to withstand extremism. "Our efforts are focused on accountability, building up the sinews of the state, focusing on education where you have a rapidly increasing population. International development is one of the only two departments, along with health, that does not have to shrink its budget," Mitchell said.

He said that it is the only department whose budget will increase substantially substantively as the Government meets a pledge to increase aid spending from the current 0.5 percent of the gross national income to 0.7 percent, a UN target. That would increase the current 7.3 billion pounds to about 10 billion pounds, he added. app

 

[anoop_mig25]

Pakistan to become biggest beneficiary of British aid​

* Mitchell says Pakistan will receive 140 million pounds
* Bilateral aid to Russia and China will be axed

LONDON: Pakistan is to become the biggest beneficiary of British aid, with a rise of up to 40 percent in the money it receives from the taxpayer, says a report in The Times newspaper on Saturday.

Pakistan is likely to emerge as the big winner from a review of the 2.9-billion pounds aid budget that is expected to halve the 90 countries that receive money. Within three years, Pakistan would probably receive more money from the recast budget than any other country, Andrew Mitchell, the British international development secretary, told the paper.

Mitchell said that Pakistan was a very important development partner, and it was a very high-priority programme. The 140 million pounds Pakistan received in the last financial year made it the sixth largest recipient behind India, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Sudan and Tanzania. Afghanistan will see an increase, also of up to 40 percent, in the 133 million pounds it receives from the Department for International Development (DFID).

But the department has said that bilateral aid to Russia and China will be axed, with Vietnam also facing cuts along with countries in South America and Eastern Europe. The paper said the plans for Pakistan have been under consideration for weeks and are not part of a response to the furore caused by British Prime Minister David Cameron when he accused Islamabad this week of looking both ways on terrorism.

"Of particular concern is the demographics of Pakistan. Half of the 177 million population is under 21," he said. Mitchell said there is an education emergency in Pakistan. It has more children out of school than anywhere in the world. The DFID secretary has already announced that Britain will provide for 300,000 girls to go to school and for three million textbooks.

He said that future aid would also go towards helping to build up civic society, the reach of the state and its ability to withstand extremism. "Our efforts are focused on accountability, building up the sinews of the state, focusing on education where you have a rapidly increasing population. International development is one of the only two departments, along with health, that does not have to shrink its budget," Mitchell said.

He said that it is the only department whose budget will increase substantially substantively as the Government meets a pledge to increase aid spending from the current 0.5 percent of the gross national income to 0.7 percent, a UN target. That would increase the current 7.3 billion pounds to about 10 billion pounds, he added. app

whoaaaaa what a policy decision taken by british government. Can world know how pakistan is going to spent british tax-payers money.Can british government see that their money is spent at right areas .

Isn`t like bribing pakistan government to prevent terrorist activities to happen in britian(india doesn`t have this facility also)

Isn`t it is duty of government of pakistan to see that their youths arn`t weaved towards wrong path by terrorist elemnts

by the way its nice policy by pakistan government to have others money to develope its own basic infrastructre and in return nothing except monitoring & revealing information if any terror related action is going to occur in Britain or related to Britain. thus it can spend its own money to sub-stain non-state(as well as state) terrorist actors and also if get chance ship-off some part money received as aid to terrorist element

 

[LETHALFORCE]

How will this bribery be effective when most of the terror in UK has come from homegrown terrorists???? Youths who were born and raised in Britain.

 

[anoop_mig25]

How will this bribery be effective when most of the terror in UK has come from homegrown terrorists???? Youths who were born and raised in Britain.

is it in response to my post
most of these youths have basic tanning in Pakistan tribe area

 

[Zaki]

Please don't give money to Pakistan,
this will force them to cut their bribes and work for the country to generate income

We will have difficuilties initially but i am sure if natural resources utilized one day or another we will be able to stand on our own feet. By taking aids every now and than our leaders do nothing for the country and always speading hands before other countries and i am just fed up hearing all these news again n again

 

[LETHALFORCE]

is it in response to my post
most of these youths have basic tanning in Pakistan tribe area

so the bribery will still be useless.

 

[SHASH2K2]

Please don't give money to Pakistan,
this will force them to cut their bribes and work for the country to generate income

We will have difficuilties initially but i am sure if natural resources utilized one day or another we will be able to stand on our own feet. By taking aids every now and than our leaders do nothing for the country and always speading hands before other countries and i am just fed up hearing all these news again n again

brother its not about the aid but its about proper use of AID . amount of AID that pakistan has got would have done wonders but it was mainly used by military to buy weapons and ISI to buy militants.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

The British were quick to point to the flaws in Indian society that caused disenchanted muslims to act out against the state.They supported this kind of behavior and funded it for decades. Now they should question themselves about the flaws in British society; that was so high and mighty. Why is UK producing young British muslims who are born and raised in UK in 100% BRITISH CULTURE to turn against the only country they have ever known?

 

[Daredevil]

Pakistan is like a bottomless pit, no matter how much AID is given to it, it will be not be used for the purpose that it is intended for. Pakistan should use the AID money to make civilian institutions stronger instead of using all of it on buying military toys.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

Please don't give money to Pakistan,
this will force them to cut their bribes and work for the country to generate income

We will have difficuilties initially but i am sure if natural resources utilized one day or another we will be able to stand on our own feet. By taking aids every now and than our leaders do nothing for the country and always speading hands before other countries and i am just fed up hearing all these news again n again

Zaki the issue has never been Pakistan receiving loans,but how the money is spent. Recently India supported the IMF loans that were going to Pakistan.

 

[ajtr]

The British were quick to point to the flaws in Indian society that caused disenchanted muslims to act out against the state.They supported this kind of behavior and funded it for decades. Now they should question themselves about the flaws in British society; that was so high and mighty. Why is UK producing young British muslims who are born and raised in UK in 100% BRITISH CULTURE to turn against the only country they have ever known?

Three words will answer it...

Dar-ul-Islam---literally house/abode of Islam; or Dar as-Salam, house/abode of Peace; or Dar al-Tawhid, house/abode of Union) is a term used by Muslim scholars to refer to those countries where Muslims can practice their religion freely. These are usually Islamic cultures wherein Muslims represent the majority of the population, and so the government promises them protection. Most Dar al-Islam areas are surrounded by other Islamic societies to ensure public protection.
Muslim scholars maintain that the labeling of a country or place as being a part of Dar al-Islam revolves around the question of religious security. This means that if a Muslim practices Islam freely in his place of abode despite that the place happens to be secular or un-Islamic, then he will be considered as living in the Dar al-Islam.
Dar al-Islam is also known and referred to as Dar al-Salam, or house/abode of Peace. The term appears in the Koran in 10.25 an 6.127 as a name of Paradise.[2]
According to Abu Hanifa, considered to be the originator of the concept, the two requirements for a country to be part of Dar al-Islam are[3][4] :
Muslims must be able to enjoy peace and security with and within this country.
It has common frontiers with some Muslim countries.
If the former does not apply then physical means such as Jihad can be used to correct the situation and in the latter case, individuals are required to do hijra to where they can practice their religion.

Dar-ul-Harb--- (Arabic: دار الحرب "house of war"; also referred to as Dar al-Garb "house of the West" in later Ottoman sources; a person from "Dar al-Harb" is a "harbi" (Arabic:حربي)) is a term classically referring to those countries where the Muslim law is not in force, in the matter of worship and the protection of the faithful and Dhimmis. Territories that do have a treaty of nonaggression or peace with Muslims are called dar al-ahd or dar al-sulh.[5]

Dar al-Kufr---"house/domain of disbelief") is a term used by Muhammad to refer to the Quraish-dominated society of Mecca between his flight to Medina and his triumphant return.
For much of Islamic history, the preferred term used to describe non-Islamic societies has been dar al-Harb, emphasizing various Islamic countries' aspirations to conquer such territories and render them part of dar al-Islam.


At present UK is Dar al-harb has to be converted to Dar al-islam.so there you go the theory of islamic terror in UK

 

[ajtr]

Kerry and Lugar introduce new investment fund for Pakistan​

Posted By Josh Rogin Monday, August 2, 2010 - 3:01 PM Share
Senate Foreign Relations heads John Kerry and Richard Lugar have put forth a bill that would create a new fund to lure private enterprise to Pakistan, using funds out of their own aid bill.

The idea is to use money to help drive capital and foreign direct investment into Pakistan. It's based on similar programs Congress has funded in other parts of the world, such as the Support for East European Development (SEED) Act and the Freedom Support Act (FSA), which authorized nearly $1.2 billion for USAID to establish funds throughout Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

"The United States can help the Pakistani private sector provide jobs, opportunity, and hope to Pakistanis using creative tools such as this Enterprise Fund," Kerry said in a statement July 30. "It's a clear example of how the Kerry-Lugar-Berman aid package can help make a real difference in stimulating growth in Pakistan based on the remarkable results we have had with similar funds in Eastern Europe and elsewhere."

Last Friday, The Cable reported that the fund was outside of the administration's plan for the Kerry-Lugar aid money. But several administration officials told The Cable that the fund was something the administration has been working on for months and that they completely endorse Congress's efforts to pass legislation to support it.

"Creating an enterprise fund for Pakistan has been a priority for months in the administration and big part of our strategic dialogue with Pakistan," said Vikram Singh, a top advisor to Special Representative Richard Holbrooke. "We have had very productive consultations with Congress on the legislative framework that would be required for such a fund. We are grateful to Senator Kerry and Senator Lugar for their leadership with this bill and hope the House will also support such a fund to help build Pakistan's vibrant private sector."

On her recent trip to Pakistan, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a set of big projects focused on building up Pakistan's ailing energy, water, and agriculture sectors. The administration's idea is that focusing on large infrastructure investments is the best way to have regular Pakistanis notice the U.S. assistance and therefore provides the best chance of winning over the country writ large.

According to the original bill, the money was to be spent primarily in five areas: building democratic institutions, expanding the rule of law, promoting economic development, investing in education, and strengthening public diplomacy. These are admittedly difficult and ambitious goals, but the administration's focus on infrastructure doesn't really get at them at all, some on the Hill are saying.

A committee staffer wouldn't comment on the Senate's position regarding the projects already announced, but said the committee sees the enterprise fund as something that can go alongside the administration's initiatives.

"This is another tool for them to consider how to spend the funds, it's not meant to micromanage the process in any way or to show umbrage at what the administration is doing," a committee staffer told The Cable.

Another committee aide who worked on the bill said that some in Congress are opposed to the kind of big infrastructure projects that the administration has been rolling out and sees the enterprise fund and other coming congressional initiatives as a way for lawmakers to reassert their influence over how the money is being spent.

Mary Beth Goodman, Holbrooke's top economic advisor, who has taken the lead in the enterprise effort, said that the administration needed congressional authorization because it was a multi-year program. The goal is to put $60 million per year for five years into the fund, she said.

"Pakistan needs the up-front risk capital to spur investment, and we hope to use the enterprise funds in a variety of sectors to facilitate that effort," she said, adding that the Pakistani finance ministry was also on board.

 

[ajtr]