US makes Pakistan aid pledge

The US will provide Pakistan with $2bn a year in military aid over at least four years, Hillary Clinton has promised, underlining Washington’s view that the battle against Islamist extremists on Pakistani soil is a vital national interest.

The secretary of state’s promise to maintain military aid at its current level from 2012 to 2016 builds on increases in such support under George W. Bush and comes in spite of Barack Obama’s intention to focus more on civilian assistance. The US president has signed legislation committing to $1.5bn in civilian aid to Pakistan over five years.

However, although Mrs Clinton told a meeting with Pakistani officials on Friday that the US had “no stronger partner” than Islamabad over counter­terrorism, fresh strains are besetting the two countries.

US officials are disappointed that Pakistan has not done more to move against extremist strongholds and are worried the country’s civilian leadership is weak and its military unreliable. They are also seeking to stave off the reaction to a video apparently showing Pakistani military executing prisoners and an Indian inquiry linking Pakistan’s intelligence services to the 2008 Mumbai attack.

“There are still tongue-in-cheek comments . . . about Pakistan’s heart not really being in this fight,” countered Mahmood Qureshi, foreign minister, at the Washington meeting. “We do not know what greater evidence to offer than the blood of our people.” He also called for Mr Obama to focus on the dispute over Kashmir when he travels to India next month.

Meanwhile, Pakistan officials are questioning US commitment to the region in light of Mr Obama’s plans to begin withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan next July. Islamabad further demonstrated its leverage over the Afghanistan war effort recently by temporarily choking off a supply route for Nato troops in retaliation against US incursions.

The meeting between Pakistan and the US – which included an encounter in the White House between Mr Obama and Gen Ashfaq Kayani, Pakistan’s army chief, and a formal session on Friday – is intended to address such concerns and deepen co-operation.

It is the third cabinet-level meeting in a year, highlighting Pakistan’s importance for the US. But some of the development projects singled out by the US for aid at the last session have been set back by Pakistan’s devastating floods.

Officials in Washington are now less hopeful that Pakistan will launch a sustained push against terrorist havens.

A White House report sent to Congress last month said the military had made just “short-lived gains” in areas seized from the insurgents, and had made a “political choice” not to take on Afghan Taliban or al-Qaeda forces in north Waziristan.

The video on the internet showing men in military uniforms executing prisoners has led US officials to say Washington will refuse to provide aid to Pakistani army units that have killed civilians.

At the same time, the US is resisting Indian conclusions that David Headley, one of the plotters of the Mumbai attacks, was backed by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, saying it has no indications of such a link.