Skip to main content

$1 billion a year U.S. pays Pakistan under new scrutiny

$1 billion a year U.S. pays Pakistan under new scrutiny: "Once a month, Pakistan's Defense Ministry delivers 15 to 20 pages of spreadsheets to the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad. They list costs for feeding, clothing, billeting and maintaining 80,000 to 100,000 Pakistani troops in the volatile tribal area along the Afghan border, in support of U.S. counterterrorism efforts.

No receipts are attached.

In response, the Defense Department has disbursed about $80 million monthly, or roughly $1 billion a year for the past six years, in one of the most generous U.S. military support programs worldwide. The U.S. aim has been to ensure that Pakistan remains the leading ally in combatting extremism in South Asia.

But vague accounting, disputed expenses and suspicions about overbilling have recently made these payments to Pakistan highly controversial - even within the U.S. government."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Act now: more Palestinian hunger strikers in hospital with serious health problems

Act now: more Palestinian hunger strikers in hospital with serious health problems Yesterday, Palestinian lawmaker and leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Ahmad Saadat was moved to Ramleh prison hospital by the Israeli Prison Service, according to Maan News Agency. Saadat joined the mass hunger strike which started on 17 April. One day earlier, Muhammad Halas was moved to an Israeli hospital after 12 days without food, according to Maan. More than 60 days ago, Palestinian political prisoners Bilal Diab and Thaer Halaheh went on hunger strike to protest their administrative detention.

What's Driving the Jerusalem Attacks - by Uri Avnery

What's Driving the Jerusalem Attacks - by Uri Avnery The Jewish public is not interested in all this. They don't know - and don't want to know - what is going on in the Arab neighborhoods, some hundreds of meters from their homes. So they are surprised, surprised and shocked, by the ungratefulness of the Arab inhabitants. A young man from Sur Baher recently shot pupils of a religious seminary in West Jerusalem. A young man from Jabal Mukaber drove a bulldozer and ran over everything that crossed his path. This week, another youngster from Umm Touba repeated exactly the same act. All three of them were shot dead on the spot. The attackers were ordinary young men, not particularly religious. It seems than none of them was a member of any organization. Apparently, a young man just gets up one fine morning and decides that he has enough. He then carries out an attack all by himself, with any instrument at hand - a pistol bought with his own money, in the first instance, or a bu