CSIS Report: U.S. Strategy and Assistance to Pakistan
The final publication version of the PCR Project study of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, A Perilous Course: U.S. Strategy and Assistance to Pakistan, is now available for download here
Project director Rick Barton appeared on NPR Morning Edition today to discuss the report and break down where the $10 billion in U.S. assistance money to Pakistan has actually gone. In the brief five minute segment he explains that in addition to funding military operations on the border, much of the assistance is used to purchase high tech weaponry such as F-16s that is not relevant to counter terrorism or cracking down on the Taliban.
This report is a must read for all Pakistanis as it documents the reality of what has happended to those promised billions of 9/11 assistance, and it does not remain a surprise to note that it has only gone to benefit the continued development of the Pakistan Army, which surprisingly already sucks in 70% of the countries budget. Barton makes the case for a smarter approach focusing on greater alignment with the Pakistani people.
Updates can be followed at the PCR Project Blog while the Audio of the feature is available at NPR
About US strategy and “assistance”, see also U.S. Hopes to Use Pakistani Tribes Against Al Qaeda – New York Times – By Eric Schmitt, Mark Mazzetti and Carlotta Gall – Nov. 18, 2007:
A new and classified American military proposal outlines an intensified effort to enlist tribal leaders in the frontier areas of Pakistan in the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, as part of a broader effort to bolster Pakistani forces against an expanding militancy, American military officials said.
If adopted, the proposal would join elements of a shift in strategy that would also be likely to expand the presence of American military trainers in Pakistan, directly finance a separate tribal paramilitary force that until now has proved largely ineffective and pay militias that agreed to fight Al Qaeda and foreign extremists, officials said. The United States now has only about 50 troops in Pakistan, a Pentagon spokesman said, a force that could grow by dozens under the new approach. (…)
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