Monday, October 15, 2012

U.S. Gov. Waives Restrictions on Aid to Pakistan

 Radical Islam

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has waived the legal restrictions that would have blocked an estimated $2 billion in economic and military aid to Pakistan. In a quiet, yet official, notice to Congress, Clinton said the aid is “important to the national security interests of the United States.”

By law, the aid was to be dependent on Pakistan making progress in “ceasing support, including by any elements within the Pakistani military or its intelligence agency, to extremist groups,” especially those that have attacked U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan.
Specifically, Pakistan was supposed to have made inroads in stopping Al Qaeda, the Taliban (who use bases in Pakistan to launch attacks), the local Haqqani terror network and other Pakistani radicals who operate from Pakistan amd stage terrorist attacks in neighboring countries. Conditions of receiving U.S. aid also include the stipulation that Pakistan shut down its own terrorist bases in the tribal areas and other parts of its country.
The notification to Congress from Clinton did not include specifics about which of the conditions were not met as that information is classified.


This is the first time that the current administration has openly declared that Pakistan is not making progress toward ending state-sponsored support for Islamic terrorists, including government military and intelligence forces that that have been responsible and complicit in attacking American soldiers.
Some experts think that the move signals American weakness and will only encourage more of the same behavior in Pakistan.
“The army is going to think that no matter how angry the Americans are at them, they are utterly indispensable and they can violate in any way, shape or form U.S. law and the United States will massage its law to accommodate them,” said assistant professor Christine Fair, an expert at Georgetown University, as quoted by the McClachy newspaper group.
In a best case scenario, Pakistan might read the move as a warning that aid will not come so easily next time. Pir Zubair Shah, an expert with the Council on Foreign Relations, said was quoted as saying, “It can be a signal that . . . next time we won’t apply a waiver and will block the aid,” he said.
In a statement to McClatchy, the State Department called the aid a “critical component of U.S. efforts to continue to build a strong, mutually beneficial relationship with Pakistan” despite “recent challenges.”
Source: KansasCity.com

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