Saturday, June 20, 2009
WASHINGTON: The US Congress approved $1.4 billion in economic and security assistance for Pakistan, as the Senate overwhelmingly passed a $106 billion war supplemental bill on Thursday, giving the Obama administration the urgently-needed $225 million as relief assistance for displaced persons of the tribal areas.

The whopping funding bill, primarily meant for Afghanistan and Iraq wars, had faced a stiff resistance in the US House of Representatives, getting through with a narrow vote earlier this week.

The measure has been sent to US President Barack Obama, who is likely to sign it into law without any delay. The 2009 supplemental bill includes more than $90 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The funding for Pakistan allocates $707 million to help address the economic crisis, including agriculture and food security, assist the displaced population, strengthen national and provincial governance, expand the rule of law, and improve access to and quality of education.

Of this amount, a substantial $225 million would be devoted to help address the refugee crisis inside Pakistan, as the country prepares to rehabilitate around three million displaced people of Malakand after clearing the region of the Taliban militants.

Another $700 million has been allocated to improve Pakistan’s security forces capability under the Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund. “Support in Congress for aid for Pakistan will strengthen the resolve of the Pakistanis and their government in confronting violent extremists and terrorists,” Ambassador to the

United States Husain Haqqani said while welcoming the development. “The US-Pakistan partnership is crucial for stability in South Asia and the US assistance helps in bolstering the confidence and sense of security of the Pakistanis,” the ambassador added as the total humanitarian aid the US is committing to the Pakistani relief operations for the displaced persons crossed well over $300 million.

President Obama had requested the Congress earlier this month for immediate $200 million to help Pakistan take care of the displaced people of Swat and other areas of Malakand. He also dispatched the special envoy, Richard Holbrooke, to Pakistan to express the US solidarity with the displaced people.

Islamabad says it needs more than two billion for relief and rehabilitation of its internally displaced persons, who left their homes following the launch of an anti-Taliban offensive in the Swat valley. The US has by far been the biggest contributor to the massive humanitarian aid effort, having already given $165 million.

Also this week, another Obama-backed measure — the Kerry Lugar Bill — to expand economic assistance for Pakistan to $1.5 billion annually for five years, made important progress in the US Senate when its Foreign Relations Committee unanimously endorsed the bipartisan measure.

The US House of Representatives has already passed its own version of the bill, called the PEACE Act. According to top US senators, the differences between the two versions would be worked out once the Senate cleared the bill.

The House version also authorises a preferential trade programme — called the Reconstruction Opportunity Zones — as well as $400 million annually for five years in support of the Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund.

Pakistani-American organisations like the Pakistani-American Leadership Centre and prominent leaders are working in coordination with the embassy and the community at large on the Capitol Hill to get the aid bill passed at the earliest. They also emphasise the importance of increasing trade relations.