E-Paper
Obama seeks $83.4 bn for Iraq, Afghan missions
US President Barack Obama on Thursday asked Congress to authorise $83.4 billion in additional funding for the military missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
US President Barack Obama on Thursday asked Congress to authorise $83.4 billion in additional funding for the military missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In a letter to Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, he said that nearly 95 percent of the military request for the current fiscal year, which ends Sep 30, would go toward military operations in either Iraq or the conflict in Afghanistan, which has increasingly spilled into neighbouring Pakistan.
"We face a security situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan that demands urgent attention," Obama said. "The Taliban is resurgent and Al Qaeda threatens America from its safe haven along the Afghan-Pakistan border."
The money is to cover military and also diplomatic and intelligence operations in the two major conflicts. A small portion of the money would also go toward related policy goals, such as securing nuclear weapons in other countries.
