WASHINGTON: A US Senate committee voted on Wednesday to make economic and security aid to Pakistan conditional on its cooperation in fighting militants such as the Haqqani network, which Washington blames for last week’s attack on the US embassy in Kabul.
The Senate Appropriations Committee decision reflected lawmakers’ anger at Islamabad over militants who operate out of Pakistan and battle US troops in Afghanistan.
Washington has pressed Pakistan to go after the Haqqani network, which it believes enjoys sanctuaries in Pakistan’s unruly ethnic Pashtun tribal region on the Afghan border.
The Senate committee did not specify any amount for economic aid to Pakistan for fiscal 2012, leaving it up to the Obama administration to set the level and notify Congress – or provide nothing at all.
Categories: Pakistan