http://au.news.yahoo.com//070520/19/13ij6.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Sunday May 20, 03:31 PM
<b>US pays Pakistan to hunt down terror suspects</b>
Photo : AFPÂ
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States pays Pakistan about one billion dollars a year for its participation in counterterrorism operations along the border with Afghanistan, The New York Times reported on its website Saturday.
The newspaper said the payments continue even though Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had decided eight months ago to slash patrols through the area where Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters are most active.
The monthly payments, called coalition support funds, are not widely advertised, the report said.
Buried in public budget numbers, the payments are intended to reimburse Pakistan?s military for the cost of the operations.
So far, Pakistan has received more than 5.6 billion dollars under the program over five years, more than half of the total aid the United States has sent to the country since the September 11, 2001, attacks, the paper said.
<b>Some US military officials in the region have recommended that the money be tied to Pakistan?s performance in pursuing Al-Qaeda</b> and keeping the Taliban from gaining a haven from which to attack the government of Afghanistan, according to The Times.
<b>But officials from the administration of President George W. Bush say no such plan is being considered, despite new evidence that the Pakistani military is often looking the other way when Taliban fighters retreat across the border into Pakistan, the report said.
There is also at least one US report that Pakistani security forces have fired in support of Taliban fighters attacking Afghan posts, the paper said.</b>
The Bush administration, according to some current and former officials, is fearful of cutting off the cash or linking it to performance for fear of further destabilizing President Musharraf, who is facing the biggest challenges to his rule since he took power in 1999, The Times said.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->US is meddling in Pakistan, while Pakistan is still supporting its Tban. The two backstabbers were made for each other. They are Natural Allies.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Sunday May 20, 03:31 PM
<b>US pays Pakistan to hunt down terror suspects</b>
Photo : AFPÂ
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States pays Pakistan about one billion dollars a year for its participation in counterterrorism operations along the border with Afghanistan, The New York Times reported on its website Saturday.
The newspaper said the payments continue even though Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had decided eight months ago to slash patrols through the area where Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters are most active.
The monthly payments, called coalition support funds, are not widely advertised, the report said.
Buried in public budget numbers, the payments are intended to reimburse Pakistan?s military for the cost of the operations.
So far, Pakistan has received more than 5.6 billion dollars under the program over five years, more than half of the total aid the United States has sent to the country since the September 11, 2001, attacks, the paper said.
<b>Some US military officials in the region have recommended that the money be tied to Pakistan?s performance in pursuing Al-Qaeda</b> and keeping the Taliban from gaining a haven from which to attack the government of Afghanistan, according to The Times.
<b>But officials from the administration of President George W. Bush say no such plan is being considered, despite new evidence that the Pakistani military is often looking the other way when Taliban fighters retreat across the border into Pakistan, the report said.
There is also at least one US report that Pakistani security forces have fired in support of Taliban fighters attacking Afghan posts, the paper said.</b>
The Bush administration, according to some current and former officials, is fearful of cutting off the cash or linking it to performance for fear of further destabilizing President Musharraf, who is facing the biggest challenges to his rule since he took power in 1999, The Times said.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->US is meddling in Pakistan, while Pakistan is still supporting its Tban. The two backstabbers were made for each other. They are Natural Allies.