WASHINGTON: U.S. economic aid to Pakistan which totals more than $1.5 billion a year allocated for last year is still in U.S. government side and more then 80 percent aid has not
According to Washington Post report, only $179.5 million out of $1.51 billion in U.S. civilian aid to Pakistan was actually disbursed in fiscal 2010, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released last month. Almost all of that was distributed as part of the Kerry-Lugar aid package passed last year.
None of the funds were spent to create the kind of water, energy and food infrastructure that Richard Holbrooke advocated for diligently when he was the US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Moreover, according to the report, the Obama administration hasn’t yet set up the mechanisms to make sure the money isn’t wasted.
“The full impact of the fiscal year 2010 civilian assistance could not be determined because most of the funding had not yet been disbursed,” the report states.
The GAO, which tracked Kerry-Lugar aid sent to Pakistan by December 31, said: “It will take some time before significant outcomes of the civilian assistance can be measured.”
US Congress was spurred by the lack of accountability to mandate better oversight of the Kerry-Lugar aid, including provisions that require reporting on the Pakistani military-level of assistance to the United States.
But these provisions have been portrayed in some parts of the Pakistani press as unwarranted interference in the country’s affairs. Popular reception of the Kerry-Lugar bill in Pakistan has been filled with skepticism of US intentions.
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