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Obama Administration to seek early Congressional action on Pakistan aid
WASHINGTON, Feb 4 (APP): The Obama Administration will seek early Congressional action on a programme authorising three-fold expansion in economic assistance for Pakistan, The Washington Post reported Wednesday in a sign of deepening relationship with the major US partner in the years ahead.
The Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act, commonly known as Biden Lugar proposal, enjoys bipartisan support on the Capitol Hill, where Democratic Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the influential Foreign Relations Committee, is spearheading efforts towards its enactment.
Senior officials in President Barack Obamas administration including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have been renewing their support for the measure that will increase socio-economic development assistance for the South Asian country to $ 1.5 billion annually over a decade.
The Pentagon favours the programme with Defence Secretary Robert Gates telling a Congressional committee last week that the long-term economic assistance will help bolster Pakistans confidence in the United States fostering a durable relationship with the country.
Pakistan is considered as key regional country to the US-led international efforts for stability and security in neighbouring Afghanistan, which has been wracked by growing Taliban insurgency.
Pakistan has also served as the major supply route for the international missions assigned in the Afghanistan since late 2001.
President Obama was one of the co-sponsors of the aid initiative when it was introduced last summer but the 110th Congress could not take it up.
The $ 15 billion assistance measure - now likely to be known as Kerry-Lugar legislation - is expected to be reintroduced and passed by the US Congress shortly, possibly within weeks.
Meanwhile, the Post, in its report noted that in contrast with the Bush Administrations description of Pakistan as, a Taliban and al-Qaeda platform for attacks inside Afghanistan and beyond, senior Obama Administration officials describe their approach to Pakistan as a major US partner facing internal threat.
The report said Pakistan and Afghanistan are to be treated as single area of focus for security and diplomatic efforts, even as stability becomes a higher priority than democracy in Afghanistan and as the US relationship with Pakistan is expanded and deepened.
The Post also reported that so far nearly $60 billion ($32 billion of it from the United States) has already been spent on reconstruction programmes in Afghanistan - more than during five years of failed reconstruction in Iraq.
But such efforts remain fragmented and lack coherence, according to US government auditors.
WASHINGTON, Feb 4 (APP): The Obama Administration will seek early Congressional action on a programme authorising three-fold expansion in economic assistance for Pakistan, The Washington Post reported Wednesday in a sign of deepening relationship with the major US partner in the years ahead.
The Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act, commonly known as Biden Lugar proposal, enjoys bipartisan support on the Capitol Hill, where Democratic Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the influential Foreign Relations Committee, is spearheading efforts towards its enactment.
Senior officials in President Barack Obamas administration including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have been renewing their support for the measure that will increase socio-economic development assistance for the South Asian country to $ 1.5 billion annually over a decade.
The Pentagon favours the programme with Defence Secretary Robert Gates telling a Congressional committee last week that the long-term economic assistance will help bolster Pakistans confidence in the United States fostering a durable relationship with the country.
Pakistan is considered as key regional country to the US-led international efforts for stability and security in neighbouring Afghanistan, which has been wracked by growing Taliban insurgency.
Pakistan has also served as the major supply route for the international missions assigned in the Afghanistan since late 2001.
President Obama was one of the co-sponsors of the aid initiative when it was introduced last summer but the 110th Congress could not take it up.
The $ 15 billion assistance measure - now likely to be known as Kerry-Lugar legislation - is expected to be reintroduced and passed by the US Congress shortly, possibly within weeks.
Meanwhile, the Post, in its report noted that in contrast with the Bush Administrations description of Pakistan as, a Taliban and al-Qaeda platform for attacks inside Afghanistan and beyond, senior Obama Administration officials describe their approach to Pakistan as a major US partner facing internal threat.
The report said Pakistan and Afghanistan are to be treated as single area of focus for security and diplomatic efforts, even as stability becomes a higher priority than democracy in Afghanistan and as the US relationship with Pakistan is expanded and deepened.
The Post also reported that so far nearly $60 billion ($32 billion of it from the United States) has already been spent on reconstruction programmes in Afghanistan - more than during five years of failed reconstruction in Iraq.
But such efforts remain fragmented and lack coherence, according to US government auditors.
