|
U.S. to Free Up $1.1 Billion for Pakistan as Blockade on NATO Lifted
[An Nahar]  The United States will release about $1.1 billion to Pakistain's military as part of a deal that will see Islamabad lift a blockade on NATO...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... supply convoys into Afghanistan, a U.S. official said Tuesday. The money, from a U.S. "coalition support fund" designed to reimburse Pakistain for the cost of counter-insurgency operations, had been withheld due to tensions between the two countries and Islamabad's closure of the supply routes. Pakistain and the United States announced earlier that the border would be open once again to NATO convoys. The coalition support fund is often the subject of wrangling between U.S. and Pak officials, with Islamabad's claims often rejected and smaller sums approved by Washington for reimbursement. The $1.1 billion that will be freed up under the border deal does not include large sums that Pakistain says it is owed, said the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "This is the amount that has been approved and already gone through the process," the U.S. official told Agence La Belle France Presse. Posted by: Fred 2012-07-04 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=347748 |