Islamabad: After the US has spent more than $5 billion (Rs19,800 crore) in a largely failed effort to bolster the Pakistani military effort against militants from al Qaeda and the Taliban, some American officials now acknowledge that there were too few controls over how the money was spent and that the strategy to improve the Pakistani military needs to be completely revamped.
In interviews in Islamabad and Washington, Bush administration and military officials said they believed that much of the American money was not making its way to frontline Pakistani units. Money has been diverted to help finance weapons systems designed to counter India, not al Qaeda or the Taliban, the officials said, adding that the US has paid tens of millions of dollars in inflated Pakistani reimbursement claims for fuel, ammunition and other costs.
Marching on: A file picture of Pakistani troops after a fight with militants on 4 December.
“I personally believe there is exaggeration and inflation,” said a senior American military official who has reviewed the programme, referring to Pakistani requests for reimbursement. “Then, I point back to the United States and say we didn’t have to give them money this way.”
Pakistani officials say they are incensed at what they see as American ingratitude for Pakistani counterterrorism efforts that have left about 1,000 Pakistani soldiers and police officers dead. They deny any overcharging has occurred.
The $5 billion was provided through a programme known as Coalition Support Funds, which reimburses Pakistan for conducting military operations to fight terrorism. Under a separate programme, Pakistan receives $300 million per year in traditional American military financing that pays for equipment and training.
Civilian opponents of president Pervez Musharraf say he used the reimbursements to prop up his government. One European diplomat in Islamabad said the US should have been more cautious with its aid. “I wonder if the Americans have not been taken for a ride,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Lawmakers in Washington voted on Thursday to put restrictions on the $300 million in military financing, and withheld $50 million of that money until secretary of state Condoleezza Rice certifies that Islamabad is restoring democratic rights since Musharraf lifted a state of emergency on 16 December. The measure had little effect on the far larger Coalition Support Funds reimbursements.
While it was a modest first step, any new conditions in aid could have a major effect on relations between the US and Pakistan. Pakistan’s military relies on Washington for roughly a quarter of its entire $4 billion budget.
Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf.
In interviews, American and Pakistani officials acknowledged that they had never agreed on the strategic goals that should drive how the money was spent, or how the Pakistanis would prove that they were performing up to American expectations.