U.S. wants to see results in Pakistan aid - The Pentagon proposes to link the funds to success in battling militants. It also wants clearer accounting.
WASHINGTON — With the Pakistani government in turmoil, senior Pentagon officials are quietly moving to overhaul the system of massive U.S. military aid to the country by more directly tying the payments to Islamabad's success in combating Islamic militants.
Defense Department officials also want to require detailed accounting of how Pakistan spends about $1 billion in annual payments and greater control by Washington over spending.
The steps would fundamentally change one of the Bush administration's signature relationships of the post-Sept. 11 era, when it forged an alliance with the military regime of President Pervez Musharraf against Islamic extremists and began providing huge sums with little oversight.
The Pentagon is focusing on the largest and most controversial aid program, known as the Coalition Support Funds. The proposal to link payments to specific objectives would revamp the current practice of reimbursing Pakistan for money it says it spent.
In more traditional military aid programs, U.S. aid is subject to a series of legislative controls that occasionally require presidential action for money to be released. By contrast, the post-Sept. 11 Coalition Support Funds have few reporting requirements, beyond the claims submitted by the Pakistanis.
"Backdoor subsidies is what it can look like to some more skeptical observers, because there hasn't been good oversight and the amounts involved have been so great," said a government official who tracks military payments to Pakistan. "There is suspicion that it's a slush fund."
The questions about accountability for the program come amid concerns about U.S. aid to Pakistan spent on weaponry and equipment that U.S. military and intelligence officials have said seem ill-suited to fight the militants.
The Pentagon effort to change the Washington-Islamabad relationship comes at a particularly tricky juncture, when the U.S. also is trying to force Musharraf to make other changes, including ending the state of emergency he imposed two weeks ago.
But Pentagon officials have been frustrated for months by their limited knowledge of how Pakistan was spending the U.S. aid. And they're being pushed by congressional criticism and revelations that Islamabad is not using the money as the administration intended.
U.S. officials must know "exactly where it goes" and "have more say" in Pakistan's use of aid, said a senior military official directly involved in the program.
