Pakistan 'squandering' US aid
Pakistan diverting $5 billion of US aid to other projects
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Monday, 24, Dec 2007 11:21
Billion of dollars worth of American military aid to Pakistan has been diverted to other projects, it has been claimed.
The New York Times says that $5 billion (£2.5 billion) in aid has been channelled away from fighting al-Qaida and pro-Taliban militants to other army and civilian plans.
According to the US daily, Bush administration officials now accept that there are too few controls on how American aid is spent by Islamabad.
They say that Pakistan has used the money to fund weapons systems trained on India, and not, as was intended, to bolstering frontline troops in tribal areas.
"I wonder if the Americans have been taken for a ride," an unnamed official told the newspaper.
"It is not making its way, for certain, we know, to the broader part of the armed forces which is carrying out the brunt of the operations on the border with Afghanistan."
Another official relayed his shock at seeing first-hand the extent of the under-funding rife in the Pakistani army; with frontline troops sporting sandals and first world war-era equipment.
American lawmakers have already moved to improve the transparency of aid given to Pakistan, with $300 million ($151 million) of military funding earmarked for 2008 to be subject to tighter Congressional controls.