Source: China View

WASHINGTON, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) — More than 5 billion U.S. dollars in the U.S. anti-terrorism aid to Pakistan has not been well controlled and was diverted to some other programs, said a newspaper report published on Monday.

Citing unidentified government and military officials, The New York Times report said much of the financial aids were channeled to weapons systems designed to counter India, not al-Qaeda or the Taliban, and to pay inflated Pakistani reimbursement claims for fuel, ammunition and other costs.

“I wonder if the Americans have been taken for a ride,” a diplomat told the newspaper on condition of anonymity.

Another U.S. official who has visited Pakistani border areas said he found the country’s frontier corps still poor in outfits and equipment despite the vast funds flowing to Pakistan.

The report came after U.S. Congress put restrictions on military aid to Pakistan in 2008 financial year by linking part of the aid package to benchmarks in “democracy” and the fight against terrorism.

According to an omnibus spending bill approved by the Congress last week, 50 million U.S. dollars out of the 300-million-dollar annual military aid to Pakistan will be subject to these conditions.

However, the U.S. government said it will get the money from the Congress to aid Pakistan despite the new restrictions on its annual aid package to Pakistan.

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Tags: Aid, Anti-terrorism, Congress, military, US