To allow greater flexibility to the Obama Administration in controlling aid to Islamabad, the Kerry-Lugar Bill, the Senate version of the Bill enabling long-term assistance to Pakistan — it has been introduced on the eve of President Barack Obama’s meetings in Washington with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai — hardly makes any India-specific conditions than the one moved by Howard Berman in the House of Representatives.

The only material reference is for the US Secretary of State to certify that the Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed are not operating on Pakistan territory. This is already required by the United Nations and US law.

The Bill called ‘Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act 2009’ tries to address concerns which the Obama Administration had with the Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement (PEACE) Act tabled by Berman last month.

The Obama Administration’s discomfiture with the PEACE Act was put on record when US Under Secretary of Defence Michelle Flournoy testified before the House Armed Services Committee on April 29.

“Given this rapidly changing and complex environment, Mr Chairman we oppose rigid conditionality, such as that we see in the proposed HR 1886 (the PEACE Act)”While we applaud the goal of accountability, we believe that HR 1886 is too inflexible, especially with regard to the conditions and limits it would place on the equipment we provide to our Pakistani partners. In our view, HR 1886 would severely constrain the Executive Branch and reduce our ability to adapt to the fluid situation on the ground,” she said.

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