Pentagon rejects some Pakistan aid requests
Amid criticism of a lack of oversight on spending, the U.S. has denied or deferred about $81 million in requests from Pakistan, the Government Accountability Office says.
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has rejected or deferred millions of dollars in military aid requests from Pakistan amid criticism that the Islamabad government has squandered U.S. funding and allowed Al Qaeda to rebuild a haven in its western tribal regions.
In February alone, the Defense Department turned down or delayed more than $81 million requested by Pakistan, according to a report issued Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.
The rejection represents a small portion of the nearly $1 billion a year Pakistan has received through a program called Coalition Support Funds started after the Sept. 11 attacks.
But it marks a sudden change in U.S. policy toward Pakistan, which for years has spent American military aid without having to show results in the fight against Al Qaeda and other militant groups. Even some officials in the Pentagon have acknowledged shortcomings in U.S. funding strategy.
The program was set up to reimburse the Pakistani military for offensives against insurgents along the Afghan border and assistance given to the U.S. military operating in Afghanistan.
The Government Accountability Office study says the U.S. has sent more than $5.5 billion to Pakistan under the program, making it the largest portion of the $10.8 billion in U.S. aid Islamabad has received since 2002.
The study was the second by the GAO in a month to criticize U.S. policy in Pakistan. In April, the agency said the Bush administration had not drafted a comprehensive plan to counter the resurgence of Al Qaeda and other militant groups in Pakistan's border areas.
Charles Michael Johnson Jr., who wrote the GAO report, said the agency was still examining why the aid rejections have risen so sharply in recent months. But he noted that the Pentagon's representatives at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad had begun playing a larger role in the oversight of payments to the Pakistani military in the last year.
About a year ago, Army Maj. Gen. James R. Helmly took over as head of the embassy division, known as the Office of the Defense Representative to Pakistan.
A spokesman for U.S. Central Command, which helps oversee disbursements, said he had not seen the report and could not comment on the program.
In a formal comment submitted to the GAO, James J. Shinn, the assistant secretary of Defense responsible for Asia, said the Pentagon had been taking a tougher line on Pakistan's aid requests for some time.
