US to ensure aid to Pakistan not diverted

The Obama administration said that it would make sure that future assistance reached the intended target.

Acknowledging that its massive aid to Pakistan over the years could have been diverted,the Obama administration said on Tuesday that it would make sure that future assistance reached the intended target.

The assurance held out by White House spokesman Robert Gibbs comes as the US Congress has just cleared a whopping USD 7.5 billion aid to Pakistan in next five years with lawmakers cautioning that Islamabad had a record of diverting and siphoning off aid.

While not commenting directly on reports that between 2002 and 2008,a major portion of whopping USD 6 billion given as aid to Pakistan had not reached its intended target,Gibbs said,”I don’t think it’s any wonder that our efforts in aiding the Pakistan army were not altogether very successful,and now we know why.”

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Media reports earlier said the US has long suspected that much of the billions of dollars it has sent Pakistan to battle militants has been diverted to the domestic economy and other causes,such as fighting India.

India has time and again expressed its concern over increasing US aid to Pakistan for the fight against terrorism,saying that the money is diverted by Islamabad to support hostile operations against it.

The reports quoting two senior Pakistani Generals said that between 2002 and 2008,while al-Qaeda regrouped,only USD 500 million of the USD 6.6 billion in American aid actually made it to the Pakistani military.

“The army itself got very little,” said Gen (retd.) Mahmud Durrani,who was Pakistan’s ambassador to the US under Musharraf.

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“It went to things like subsidies,which is why everything looked hunky-dory. The military was financing the war on terror out of its own budget.”

Former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf said in a recent interview that he had diverted US funds,meant to fight terrorism,to build the army against India.

“No amount of additional American resources that are siphoned off and not going to the problem they’re directed at — no increase or amount is going to fix a problem if those resources ultimately don’t get to where they’re going,” Gibbs said.

“We will work to ensure that they do. I think that’s the very least that anybody can ask if we’re dedicating the lives of men and women in our uniform to ensure that this is done in a way that ultimately protects them,” he said.