US to 'defer military aid' to Pakistan: A total of $800m in aid and equipment could be either suspended or outright cancelled, The New York Times says.

[Babur]

I think this may satisfy people in both Pakistan and the US, in the case of Pakistan there is a perception that much of this money doesn't reach where it is needed while in the US (at least in the State Department) there is a growing frustration with Pakistan and whether it is fully committed in engaging terrorism.

US to 'defer military aid' to Pakistan
A total of $800m in aid and equipment could be either suspended or outright cancelled, The New York Times says.
Last Modified: 10 Jul 2011 05:04
EmailPrintShareSend Feedback


US-Pakistan relations have been strained since the raid in May that killed Osama bin Laden [Reuters]
The United States is suspending about one-third of its aid to Pakistan’s military in the wake of increased tensions between the two countries, The New York Times has reported.

A total of $800m in aid and equipment could be either suspended or outright cancelled, according to three unnamed US officials quoted by the newspaper on Saturday.

Pakistan currently receives more than $2bn in military aid from the US every year.

US officials told the newspaper the aid and equipment supply could be resumed if relations improve and Pakistan takes more action against fighters.

About $300m in US funding is to reimburse Pakistan for deploying more than 100,000 troops along the Afghan border to combat Taliban and other forces. Other funding covers training and military hardware, the report said.

It said that in private briefings with congressional staffers last month, Pentagon officials said they would be taking a stronger stance toward Pakistan.

Relations with Pakistan have become increasingly tense after the secret US raid into Pakistan in May that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Pakistan has expelled 100 US military trainers as public sentiment against the US has grown.

Tensions grew in recent days after Admiral Mike Mullen, the US joint chiefs of staff, said he believed that Pakistan intelligence officials had directed the killing of a journalist.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, warned last month in testimony before Congress that the US was not prepared to continue military aid "at the pace we were providing it unless and until we see certain steps taken."

'Direct attack'

The NYT report came hours after the Pakistan army's chief spokesman said that the newspaper's criticism of the military and its powerful intelligence agency is a "direct attack" on his country's security.

Major General Athar Abbas said the newspaper reporting was part of a calculated plan by "unnamed officials" to "weaken the state".

"This is a direct attack on our security organisation and intelligence agencies," he told Reuters news agency.

"We consider Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) as a strategic intelligence organisation, the first line of our defence."

Abbas was responding specifically to a July 8 editorial in the New York based paper that said there was evidence of complicity by the Pakistani intelligence agency in sheltering bin Laden, of ties to the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people, and of involvement in the abduction and murder of Saleem Shahzad, an Asia Times Online journalist.

The US-Pakistan relationship was also damaged last year after a CIA contractor in Lahore killed two Pakistanis he said were trying to rob him.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/as...415574792.html

[Tiberios]

It'll be interesting, for the lack of a better word, to see whether the US-Pakistani relationship will continue to deteriorate.

[Rome101]

I must state that holding an RPG might seem intimidating to the knowledgeable farmer (your every-day Joe/Ahmed, if you will), but anyone with the slightest understanding of weapons or physics (or anyone who has ever played Call of Duty or watched Black Hawk Down) can tell you that this thing is utterly useless.
An RPG is so inaccurate that it'll either blow the soldier up or just miss the target by a few miles, unless he shoots it right into the ground that is.

Well, I might be exaggerating a bit here, but seriously, if someone wants to raid this outpost, wouldn't they rather simply pick off that RPG-wielder with a 12-dollars Glock from 100 meters away?


Back to topic though, I believe this deterioration should end. The US needs to help Pakistan fight terrorism, and Pakistan in turn needs to show the US it's dedicated to the cause.

[Babur]

Back to topic though, I believe this deterioration should end. The US needs to help Pakistan fight terrorism, and Pakistan in turn needs to show the US it's dedicated to the cause.

of course it does, but Pakistanis are not willing to do so.

[Tiberios]

Nope they are, as we know, hell bent on the insane idea that they can control the Taliban, which it has become more than clear that they cannot. The result, a lot of dead Pakistanis.

[Surgeon]

Yeah the US should suspend aid. If Pakistan lacks the balls to do anything about the Taliban then take away their money and just continue the drone strikes. Same results, less expensive.

Or maybe Pakistan can reveal some more wanted terrorists in exchange for the money? I'm sure they're out there somewhere

I must state that holding an RPG might seem intimidating to the knowledgeable farmer (your every-day Joe/Ahmed, if you will), but anyone with the slightest understanding of weapons or physics (or anyone who has ever played Call of Duty or watched Black Hawk Down) can tell you that this thing is utterly useless.
An RPG is so inaccurate that it'll either blow the soldier up or just miss the target by a few miles, unless he shoots it right into the ground that is.

Well, I might be exaggerating a bit here, but seriously, if someone wants to raid this outpost, wouldn't they rather simply pick off that RPG-wielder with a 12-dollars Glock from 100 meters away?

No man, wtf It's more effective than that.

[xcorps]

Yeah the US should suspend aid. If Pakistan lacks the balls to do anything about the Taliban then take away their money and just continue the drone strikes. Same results, less expensive.

Or maybe Pakistan can reveal some more wanted terrorists in exchange for the money? I'm sure they're out there somewhere

I say let Pakistan rot. Bring the boys home and spend the money on real security instead of minimum wage crotch groping.

[SPECTREtm]

Well, I might be exaggerating a bit here, but seriously, if someone wants to raid this outpost, wouldn't they rather simply pick off that RPG-wielder with a 12-dollars Glock from 100 meters away?

If you can hit a target from 50m with a gun, then you're good... The RPG isn't very accurate, but at 100m you'll have to be blind to miss a human sized target. I do wonder if the pakistani soldier on that picture has a rifle, because otherwise I seriously don't know what the hell they're thinking...


As for Pakistan... them! They're constantly backstabbing the West, so they don't deserve anything. Give it all to India, or use the money to fix some of the domestical problems in the US. Such as your debt...

[Sir Pignans]

I must state that holding an RPG might seem intimidating to the knowledgeable farmer (your every-day Joe/Ahmed, if you will), but anyone with the slightest understanding of weapons or physics (or anyone who has ever played Call of Duty or watched Black Hawk Down) can tell you that this thing is utterly useless.
An RPG is so inaccurate that it'll either blow the soldier up or just miss the target by a few miles, unless he shoots it right into the ground that is.

Well, I might be exaggerating a bit here, but seriously, if someone wants to raid this outpost, wouldn't they rather simply pick off that RPG-wielder with a 12-dollars Glock from 100 meters away?


Back to topic though, I believe this deterioration should end. The US needs to help Pakistan fight terrorism, and Pakistan in turn needs to show the US it's dedicated to the cause.

Yeah, black hawk down, the film where they managed to shoot two helicopters down with RPGs. That's the thing about RPG's, awful aim, but god help them if you hit someone. There good for scaring the crap out of people (morale) and good for covering (Idc who you are, if you see a RPG even vaguely pointed at you, your gonna duck down)

[removeduser_4536284751384]

I must state that holding an RPG might seem intimidating to the knowledgeable farmer (your every-day Joe/Ahmed, if you will), but anyone with the slightest understanding of weapons or physics (or anyone who has ever played Call of Duty or watched Black Hawk Down) can tell you that this thing is utterly useless.
An RPG is so inaccurate that it'll either blow the soldier up or just miss the target by a few miles, unless he shoots it right into the ground that is.

Well, I might be exaggerating a bit here, but seriously, if someone wants to raid this outpost, wouldn't they rather simply pick off that RPG-wielder with a 12-dollars Glock from 100 meters away?

I'd love to see you shoot a mansized target from further than 25 metres with a "glock" of any calibre.

There's a reason the RPG-7 has been almost as ubiquitous as the AK-47 since its inception. It's an incredibely cheap, reliable and easy to use weapon that does its job exceptionally well. The rocket is accurate in that it flies where you aim the sights. The shaped charge is far more powerful than it looks, because the bits of the warhead that don't immediately explode turn into a big ball of lava that can travel a considerable distance in the direction the warhead was pointing when it blew up. This ball can go through several walls or thick earth fortifications, creating shrapnel and shedding molten metal the whole way. When fired at vehicles it can penetrate tens of mm of armour, making it highly dangerous to APCs and IFVs.

That warhead is far nastier than any grenade or mine. The whole shaped charge aspect isn't portrayed at all in Black Ops.

[John ''True Grit'' Wayne]

More Pakistani people have died due to terrorist attacks than anywhere.I hope the terrorists never take over that country with a cival war as we would have a realy ed up country..I think the USA should try to diplomatically try for peace with the Taliban.How else will this saga end

[priam11]

The US making peace with the Taliban will not really matter with the problems currently facing Pakistan.

Cannot really say I did not see this coming. The writing was on the wall, when they nailed bin Laden in May. It was only a matter of time before the US got tired of Pakistan cashing the cheques while at the same time, not putting forth an undivided effort at fighting terrorism.

[Tiberios]

More Pakistani people have died due to terrorist attacks than anywhere.I hope the terrorists never take over that country with a cival war as we would have a realy ed up country..I think the USA should try to diplomatically try for peace with the Taliban.How else will this saga end

The US making peace with the Taliban will achieve nothing inside Pakistan. As long as the ISI continues to support the Pakistani Taliban while hoping to be able to control them, this problem will persist. At worst, peace with the Taliban could perhaps result in more attacks inside Pakistan.

[Burnum]

It may backfire and produce more instability in the region, they after all, now have less incentive to toe the USA's line.

[Babur]

I see this as a good move tbh

[Don in the North]

if usa's next move is supportive of india in any way, i reckon pakistan will challenge usa the same way north korea has, and a war of words and mass attrition will arise once more.

[(s)AINT]

We need to be supporting india. They are our greatest allies in that region.

And if pakistan gets butthurt, who ing cares? They can't be trusted anyway, to put it bluntly - they were horrible "allies" and stabbed us in the ing back all this time.

[Armenum]

Though US knows very well that while it may afford to deteriorate relations somewhat with Pakistan, it still needs normal relations with them for Afghanistan. If Pakistan really wants to show it to the US, especially after this deferring of military aid, it should increase cooperation with Iran - a nightmare scenario for the US.

[mrmouth]

It isn't just the US against everyone else. The US is acting as a proxy for just about every country in the ME and Asia when it comes to the issue of Iran, and it's Syrian proxy. Nobody wants to see Iran gain anymore power than they already have, and everyone is interested (and likely involved) in tempering what power they have now.

Pakistan can throw all the tantrums it wants. The simple fact is, they don't survive unless they get significant aid from someone. And I really don't see anyone else wanting to get into bed with them. And the US/UK is only doing so over nuclear fears, and the fact they are so unhinged with respect to India.

Pakistan cannot feed its population, let alone prosecute the necessary military operations, without this aid.

I mean, ultimate success in Afghanistan has them fighting extremists and defending their government for many decades down the road at some level. It could be small pockets of insurgency, or simple counter terrorism like in Iraq. Perhaps it never ends. You are talking about incredibly well entrenched networks in Central Asia, who do have clear goals, and have been on a path of training the next generations to continue their backwards fight.

Pakistan is in the same boat. This started with conditional aid, and it has come to withholding it altogether. It isn't terribly difficult to draw some conclusions about what has been happening behind the scenes.

[RedGuard]

I must state that holding an RPG might seem intimidating to the knowledgeable farmer (your every-day Joe/Ahmed, if you will), but anyone with the slightest understanding of weapons or physics (or anyone who has ever played Call of Duty or watched Black Hawk Down) can tell you that this thing is utterly useless.
An RPG is so inaccurate that it'll either blow the soldier up or just miss the target by a few miles, unless he shoots it right into the ground that is.

they are accurate up to one hundred meters, despite what COD may have you believe. trust me, i've shot one.