Obama to Request Aid for Pakistan
The Washington Post reports:
The Obama administration will ask Congress to expand military aid to Pakistan, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday, announcing a five-year, $2 billion package that would increase current financing for weapons purchases by about one-third.
"The United States has no stronger partner when it comes to counterterrorism efforts against the extremists who threaten us both than Pakistan," Clinton said at the end of a meeting with top Pakistani officials in Washington.
News of the aid came as the Obama administration has moved to cut off assistance to individual Pakistani military units believed responsible for human rights abuses, including the summary execution of alleged insurgents.
The juxtaposition made for an awkward conclusion to the third "strategic dialogue" the administration has held with Pakistan this year as it tries to calibrate policy toward one of its most important allies in the Afghanistan war.
In a White House meeting Wednesday with the Pakistani delegation, including Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, the military chief of staff, President Obama praised Pakistan's efforts but said the United States expects a more robust offensive against al-Qaeda and Taliban sanctuaries in the tribal areas along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.
