US to cut aid projects to Pakistan

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US to cut aid projects to Pakistan

By Lamont and Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad

Published: June 2 2011 17:08 | Last updated: June 2 2011 17:08

The US will cut the number of projects it funds in Pakistan by two-thirds as it

seeks to focus its civilian assistance more tightly in the wake of the killing

of Osama bin Laden, according to US officials.

A top US official told the Financial Times that the US would slim its civilian

aid programme in Pakistan to target 50 projects, down from 160 projects.

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Emphasis would be put on achieving maximum visibility to help counter strong

anti-American sentiment across Pakistan, inflamed by what many see as an attack

on Pakistan's sovereignty by the covert raid on the al-Qaeda leader.

" A slash of assistance is not on the cards, unless there is another big surprise

[like Bin Laden's whereabouts], " said the US official.

" There is a lot of money in a lot of places . . . Aid is in a diffused state. We

can say great things about what we are doing in Baluchistan and Sindh

[provinces], but you don't see it. "

US civilian assistance, boosted in 2009 by the authorisation of $7.5bn over five

years, is to be funnelled towards projects in high impact sectors such as

energy, education, open democracy, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and

job creation. It would be subject to more rigorous monitoring, and streamlined

to assure quicker transfer of money to Pakistan.

The reshaping of the aid programme coincides with a greater role for Marc

Grossman, Washington's envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He replaced the late

Holbrooke, whose expansive style led to a proliferation of aid

programmes. " Holbrooke was a floodlight, " said the US official explaining the

different approaches of the two diplomats. " Grossman is a laser " .

The recalibration also comes as senior politicians in the US question the scale

of assistance to Pakistan amid persistent doubts about its willingness and

ability to combat Islamist militants striking targets within Afghanistan and

Pakistan.

Pakistan's leaders, however, insist that it has suffered far greater casualties

than Nato in a conflict that now threatens civil war in their own country. They

claim to have lost 35,000 people to the fight in the past decade.

The US is seeking ways to recover from a severe loss of confidence in Pakistan

this year. The relationship has suffered what US officials describe as double

" crises " of the arrest of , a Central Intelligence Agency

operative, in Lahore and the discovery, and subsequent killing, of Bin Laden in

a garrison city, 50km from Islamabad, Pakistan's capital.

The US's top priority is to rebuild its intelligence sharing with Pakistan.

Thereafter, it is concentrating on improved military to military contacts and a

more effective aid programme.

Some US analysts predict a radical reassessment of US aid flows to Pakistan,

including tougher conditionality.

The US has given Pakistan about $20bn worth of aid over the past nine years,

making it one of the largest recipients of US foreign assistance. It also spends

about $2bn a week in its war effort in Afghanistan against Taliban and al-Qaeda

militants, many of whom depend on support and refuge in Pakistan.

Haass, the president of the Washington-based US Council on Foreign

Relations, said more " scruple " would be attached to signing off money to

Pakistan, as the US was " disappointed " by the level of co-operation it had

received.

" This relationship is going to have to become more of a transactional

relationship, more of a performance-based relationship, " he said. Some Pakistani

leaders have responded to the bin Laden killing by calling for a rejection of US

aid. " The outsiders want to do away with the sovereignty of the country by using

the pretext of charity, " said Shahbaz Sharif, the chief minister of Punjab

province, Pakistan's most populous.

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