Pakistan a ‘black hole’ for US funds

Washington, Oct. 6: Despite the US providing huge amounts of funds to Pakistan to enable it fight the menace of terrorism, Islamabad has failed to ensure that the monetary assistance is utilised exactly for the purpose it is meant for.
A large portion of international aid has been misutilised by Pakistan, and the assistance meant for enabling the country’s security forces to fight against the extremists vanishes into a proverbial ‘black hole’, a report in the Boston Globe said.
Pakistan has barely used the US assistance for the purpose it is meant for. It is estimated that between 2002 and 2008, only 500 million of the 6.6 billion dollars in military aid meant to help Pakistan fight militants was actually spent on its intended purpose. This clearly shows that Islamabad is playing a “shell game” with US aid, the report said.
The United States on Tuesday admitted that past experiences have shown giving aid to Pakistan has not been a successful proposition, but, said the Obama Administration would make sure that the aid is not diverted.
“From 2002 to 2008, two generals in Pakistan mentioned that of the over $6 billion that was to go to aid the Pakistani army, only approximately $500 million reached its intended target,” Mr Gibbs said. The US senate last month voted to triple the non-military aid to Pakistan to USD 1.5 billion. India has time and again expressed its concern over increasing US aid to Pakistan for the fight against terrorism, saying that the money is diverted by Islamabad to support hostile operations against it.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan foreign minister, Mr Shah Mahmood Qureshi, arrived here on Tuesday on a three-day visit, during which he is scheduled to meet the top officials of the Obama Administration, to discuss issues including seeking more aid.