Obama’s stimulus package delays $15 bn Pak aid bill

The US downturn has delayed legislation promising $1.5 billion in aid to Pakistan every year for the next 10 years with the Barack Obama administration caught up in the sprawling stimulus programme to revive the economy. A source said the new version of the Biden-Lugar bill, which promises military and economic aid worth $15 billion to Islamabad, would be introduced in Congress later this year.

Vice-president Joseph Biden’s bill, Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act: 2008, will have to find a new sponsor in the Senate.

According to Washington circles, Democratic senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, may introduce a new version of the bill co-sponsored by Republican Richard Lugar.

In a recent article in The Washington Times, Kerry indicated he would push for Senate action on aid to Pakistan where, he said, “effective counter-insurgency” must address longer term political, economic, development challenges.

“This is why I will seek swift passage of the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act, which would triple non-military assistance to Pakistan through projects that will directly support the Pakistanis, strengthen democratic institutions, promote economic freedoms, and encourage investment in the agriculture, education and infrastructure sectors,” Kerry said.

A Senate source told DNA, “The economic stimulus bill is front and centre, but once it is voted on in the Senate and goes to the president’s table by February-end, other pending bills will be taken up. In all probability, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will introduce a Kerry-Lugar Bill aimed at [providing] aid to Pakistan.”

India can draw comfort from the fact that Obama’s administration will not allow US weapons sales and other military aid to Pakistan until secretary of state Hillary Clinton certifies the Pakistani military is working to undermine al Qaeda and Taliban.

Clinton reiterated support for restructuring the Pakistan aid programme, saying she will oppose a “blank cheque” to the country.