House Mulls Pakistan Aid Restrictions

The Hill reports:

House appropriators have proposed slapping new restrictions on the aid that Washington will send to Pakistan next year amid a chill in relations following the killing of Osama bin Laden.

A provision in the 2012 Pentagon appropriations bill that the panel unanimously approved Tuesday would keep all but 25 percent of $1.1 billion in aid intended for Islamabad in the bank until the White House provides clear details on how it would spend the cash.

The move comes as more and more U.S. lawmakers and voters express support for ending the Afghanistan war in the wake of bin Laden’s death in Pakistan at the hands of U.S. Navy SEALs. The remaining 75 percent of the “Pakistan Counterinsurgency Fund” would be subject to the Obama administration providing lawmakers a report detailing its “strategy to utilize the fund and the metrics used to determine progress with respect to the fund, ” according to a report accompanying the committee’s bill.