The provision is part of a giant $662 billion defence budget for fiscal 2012 passed by US Senate by 86 to 13 votes on December 15, a day after the US House of Representatives approved it by 283 to 136 votes.
The new legislation would freeze any aid to Pakistain until Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton... sometimes described as
The Heroine of Tuzlaand at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as
Another William H. Seward...
verifies Pakistain's cooperation in the war on terror.
Cooperation between the US and Pakistain came to a halt after a fatal NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
attack on a Pakistain border post. Pakistain stopped all supplies to NATO troops in Afghanistan and told the US to leave the Shamsi air base.
"I cannot believe that the cooperation stopped because of a couple of incidents - it's immature," said Tim Barkin, a defense analyst who has worked in Afghanistan.
While President Barack
My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change itObama and his administration want close ties with Pakistain, the security establishment and the hawks in the administration and the Senate are pressing for tougher actions.
"There have been over 2,800 NATO causalities so far, and we have not blamed them on Pakistain," said a senior NATO commander in Afghanistan. "What if we act like Pakistain? What would that lead to?"
Former US embassy military front man Col Michael Shivers said Pakistain received $3.5 billion in economic assistance from the United States over 15 years from 1952 to 1967. This was more than three times the combined aid provided by West Germany, Canada, Great Britannia and Japan. From 2002 to 2010, the US was been the biggest donor to Pakistain with approximately $4 billion in direct aid. Its security assistance support was $462 million in fiscal year 2008, $884 million in FY 2009, and $1,114 million in FY 2010. This does not include the Coalition Support Fund (CSF), a reimbursement programme for expenses incurred by Pak military for its assistance to the US. CSF reimbursements since 2001 total approximately $8.88 billion.
Relations between Pakistain and the US have worsened to the extent that all US military representatives working in Pakistain, including the important Director of Strategic Communications, have been virtually stopped from working in Pakistain after the Raymond Davis case, and according to a US diplomat, "We are treated as enemy combatants in Pakistain."
Carl Prine, a veteran journalist and military analyst, however thinks that "without Pakistain, the US won't end up anywhere in Afghanistan."
Making a joke about what appears to be a key factor in the worsening of the ties, he asked if it would be "better to give $10 million a month to the Haqqanis instead of wasting $120 billion a year in Afghanistan?"
Some analysts see the new US move as a response to Pakistain's decision to stop supplies to NATO troops in Afghanistan. "Some in the US want to take on Pakistain by exerting financial pressure," one expert said.
"The last time they closed the supplies, the US made alternate arrangements," said diplomat Mark Author. "They are more expensive, but that's better than being blackmailed."