USD 7.5 bln aid to Pak a recipe of disappointment: Ackerman

A bill passed by the Congress which triples non-military aid to Pakistan to USD 7.5 billion in the next five years and softens the conditions on Islamabad is a recipe for disappointment and disillusionment, a senior American lawmaker said today.

A bill passed by the Congress which triples non-military aid to Pakistan to USD 7.5 billion in the next five years and softens the conditions on Islamabad is a recipe for disappointment and disillusionment, a senior American lawmaker said on Thursday.

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The US House of Representative on Wednesday passed Bicameral Legislation Increasing Assistance to Pakistan, Improving US-Pakistan Ties, which triples the non-military aid to Pakistan. The bill already passed by the Senate now heads towards the White House for President Barack Obama to sign it into law.

"Our success will depend chiefly on reforms taken in Pakistan by Pakistanis. And I see little in this bill to provide any assurance that such changes are on the way. I fear we are again choosing to be Pakistan’s patron rather than its partner," Congressman Gary Ackerman said.

"In the end, Pakistan will absorb what we offer and remain the same Pakistan. And, worst of all, they will again claim that we have failed them," Ackerman said.

Noting that Pakistan’s interests and America’s own are not very closely aligned, Ackerman said: "We see India as a major ally. They see India as unalterably rapacious and inherently dangerous. We see the Afghan Taliban as a wicked, oppressive and violent group intent on returning Afghanistan to primitive theocratic darkness."