ISLAMABAD—The Pakistan military declared Sunday that
it doesn’t need U.S. aid, as the White House confirmed that United
States is withholding about $800 million in aid to Pakistan’s armed
forces.
Tense relations between Islamabad and Washington
worsened in May after the unilateral U.S. raid in northern Pakistan,
during which Osama bin Laden was killed. Nuclear-armed Pakistan is
struggling to combat Islamic extremists, while its economy is lurching
towards disaster.
At stake is Pakistan’s cooperation against al-Qaida,
the Taliban and other extremist groups. Much of al-Qaida’s remaining
leadership is believed to be hiding in Pakistan, while Pakistani
territory is used as a safe haven by the Afghan Taliban and the allied
Haqqani network, fighting across the border in Afghanistan.
“The Pakistani relationship is difficult but it must
be made to work over time,” William Daley, the White House chief of
staff, said on ABC television on Sunday. “But until we get through these
difficulties we will hold back some of the money that the American
taxpayers have committed to give them.” Daley said the figure amounted
to about $800 million.
The cutback seemed to be a direct response to recent
moves by Pakistan, which expelled U.S. military trainers from the
country, limited the ability of U.S. diplomats and other officials to
get visas and restricted CIA operations allowed on its territory.
There are also questions about U.S. civilian aid to Pakistan, about $1.5 billion a year.
Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, the chief spokesman for the
Pakistan armed forces, said the military was not officially notified
that aid had been cut. He also pointed out that the army chief, Gen.
Ashfaq Kayani, had declared that U.S. cash reimbursements to the
military, known as Coalition Support Funds, should go instead to the
civilian government, which needed the money more.
“We have conducted our (anti-extremist) military
operations without external support or assistance,” Abbas said.
“Reports coming out of the U.S. are aimed at undermining the authority
of our military organizations.”
The Obama administration often leaks stories critical
of Pakistan to the American press, which riles Pakistani public and
official opinion against the United States. Many in Pakistan believe
that there is a concerted American effort to weakened Pakistan and its
armed forces, among the largest in the world.
“The U.S. can’t decide they if they want to stay in
this relationship or cut Pakistan off,” said Cyril Almeida, a columnist
with Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper. “And Pakistan needs to work out whether
it wants to be on the wrong side of international opinion and on the
wrong side of the U.S.”
Since 2001, the U.S. has provided $21 billion in
civilian and military assistance to Pakistan, including $4.5 billion in
the 2010-2011 fiscal year, according to a report from the Congressional
Research Service. Two bills in Congress in the past week, which were
voted down, would have cut off aid to Pakistan altogether.
Washington has long been highly critical of the
relationship that the Pakistan military maintains with Afghan insurgents
and other jihadist groups. Pakistan’s refusal to launch an offensive
against the Haqqani network and suspicions that bin Laden benefited
from some kind of official support to live in Pakistan have further
strained relations.
Accusations from U.S. officials, made public last
week by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that
Pakistan’s military and its Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency was
behind the murder of a journalist, Saleem Shahzad, have further damaged
relations with Pakistan’s armed forces.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Saturday that he
believes that bin Laden’s successor as al-Qaida chief, Ayman
al-Zawahiri, is in Pakistan’s tribal area and that “he’s one of those we
would like to see the Pakistanis target.” Pakistan responded Sunday by
asking for the U.S. to share its intelligence on Zawahiri’s whereabouts.
Pakistan, meanwhile is fighting its homegrown
extremists in its tribal area on the border with Afghanistan with a new
offensive begin this month, though not the jihadists in its territory
who are focused on Afghanistan.
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