Pakistan: US Suspends $800m of Military Aid

[Feuer Frei!]

The US says it is withholding some $800m in military aid to Pakistan.
White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley told ABC television that Pakistan had "taken some steps that have given us reason to pause on some of the aid".
He said the US raid that killed Osama Bin Laden in May had affected ties but he insisted the relationship "must be made to work over time".
The $800m (£500m) equates to about a third of the annual US security aid to Pakistan, US officials say.
In figures submitted to the International Monetary Fund last autumn, Pakistan's defence expenditure in its 2010-2011 budget was put at $6.41bn - an increase of $1.27bn on the previous year.


Speaking on ABC's This Week programme, Mr Daley accepted that Pakistan had been "an important ally in the fight on terrorism. They've been the victim of enormous amounts of terrorism".
He added: "It's a complicated relationship in a very difficult, complicated part of the world. Obviously, there's still lot of pain that the political system in Pakistan is feeling by virtue of the raid that we did to get Osama Bin Laden, something that the president felt strongly about and we have no regrets over.
"Until we get through these difficulties, we will hold back some of the money that the American taxpayers have committed to give them."


Pakistan's former ambassador to the US, Meleeha Lodhi, told the BBC the US move would be counterproductive.
She said: "Washington is going to be left without any influence with the Pakistan army and with the people of Pakistan because this will be seen as an action that will punish Pakistan rather than provide an incentive for cooperation.
"This is not the way to rebuild a relationship that has been in a state of disrepair for several months."


SOURCE