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Aid suspension to hurt US more than Pakistan
Don't bet on it...
ISLAMABAD: The decision to suspend more than one-third of American military aid to Pakistan could end up hurting Washington more than Islamabad as the US seeks to navigate an end to the Afghan war and defeat Al Qaeda, former Pakistani officials and analysts warned on Monday.

Holding back the $800 million in aid is unlikely to pressure Pakistan to increase cooperation with the US and could strengthen those in the government who argue that Washington is a fickle ally who can’t be trusted, they said.

“If you still need the relationship, which clearly the United States does, then it really doesn’t make sense to take action at this time because it leaves the United States with less, not more, influence with the Pakistani military,” said Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pakistani ambassador to the US. “Cooperation cannot be coerced by punitive actions,” she said.
All that influence we bought sure has done a lot of good, hasn't it...
Despite billions of dollars in American aid since the attacks on September 11, 2001, the relationship has long been tense because of Pakistan’s unwillingness reluctance to target their partner Taliban terrorists militants on its territory who certainly allegedly stage cross-border attacks against NATO troops in Afghanistan.

The relationship took a nosedive on May 2 when US commandos staged a covert raid to kill Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad. The raid humiliated the Pakistani military, which ordered US trainers out of the country and reduced bilateral cooperation.

The lack of trainers means that planned US equipment cannot be put into service, which reduces some of the needed aid. Also, about $300 million from the trimmed aid was intended to reimburse Pakistan for the cost of deploying troops along the Afghan border.

But US officials claim that Pakistan has not lived up to pledges to uproot and disrupt Taliban militants and suspected Al Qaeda factions in the border region.

The sanctions left many Pakistanis with a sense that the US was only interested in a “transactional” relationship that it could abandon once its interests were served.

Pakistan army spokesman Maj Gen Abbas said that the military had received no official notice from the US that aid was being suspended. He also said that the loss of aid would have no effect on military operations against terrorists because they were being conducted with Pakistan’s own resources.

“I think it hurts Washington more than it hurts Islamabad,” said Lodhi, the former ambassador. “Assistance is influence, and when you withhold it or suspend it, you deprive yourself of influence.”
Sounds like we're beginning to harm them. Good. Cut all the funding. Let's hear how loudly they scream...

Posted by: Steve White 2011-07-12
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=326169