Justifying its decision to release more than $1.6 billion in suspended aid to Pakistan on the eve of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to Washington, the United States has said the money would go towards building Islamabad’s counterinsurgency and counterterrorism capabilities.
The State Department said it was “encouraged by an improvement in bilateral ties”, with deputy spokesperson Maria Harf noting the moves to release aid were “part of a long process of restarting security assistance cooperation”. “Implementation of this assistance was slowed during 2011-2012 when we had some bilateral challenges….So basically, there’s 1.6 billion (dollars) in funding that’s security and civilian assistance. It’s funds from previous multi-year funding, right, so it’s money that had been designated for Pakistan but that had been slowed because of the bilateral challenges,” Harf told reporters.
“I don’t have an exact breakdown of what the 1.6 billion is between security and military. I think it’s close to being 50/50,” she said, adding: “It’s a number of different accounts. It’s not a lump sum. But I would say that we are encouraged that our bilateral relationship has improved.” Terming Secretary of State John Kerry’s meeting with Prime Minister Sharif on Sunday as “a good one”, Harf said: “So we’re going to move forward with this 1.6 billion. That’s separate from the 2014 Fiscal Year money that the (Obama) Administration has asked for.”
Releasing the suspended aid would be “especially important in the western border regions when we’re talking about fighting Al Qaeda and its affiliated groups”, she said. While Harf did not go into the “bilateral challenges” that led to suspension of the aid, these included a chain of events in 2011 and 2012 beginning with the arrest of a CIA contractor, the unilateral US commando strike that killed Osama bin laden in Abbottabad, and the US-led NATO airstrike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.