'Pakistan using US funds meant for war on terror to bolster military might' [$18 billion since 2001]

Pakistan has been diverting a large part of US funds meant for the global war on terrorism for conventional weapon procurements from China and other countries. This illegal diversion of US provided funds, far more than what is known in public, is resulting in a massive modernisation of Pakistan's military beyond its official means, believes the Indian security establishment.

A source said that the findings and concerns of India were shared with the US during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's US visit in April. This issue formed a substantial part of the conversation between the two sides. Officials later said US President Barack Obama had committed to Singh that security assistance to Pakistan would be monitored and kept under closer observation.

Since the coordinated terror attacks of September 11, 2001 in the US, Pakistan has received at least $18 billion (approximately Rs 90,000 crore) under various US assistance and allowance programmes. At least one assessment by the Indian security establishment says that the Pakistani army may have diverted as much as $14 billion for weapons purchases meant for a military conflict with India.

"Most of the payments allotted to it for the global war on terrorism under major heads are not being utilized for what they were originally meant. We assess that most of it is being diverted to buying conventional weapons. And it could also be diverted to strategic weapon acquisitions," a senior member of the security establishment told TOI.

Pakistan receives funds under numerous heads, but the big payments come under three major programmes. Under the Coalition Support Funds, Pakistan has received $8.1 billion since 2002. This is officially Pentagon's "reimbursement" of Pakistan for its support to US military operations in the region.

The Indian security establishment assesses that just 15% of it is being directly utilized in the war on terror. A senior source told TOI that at least 80% of it is going into modernisation of the Pakistan military, especially in purchase of conventional weapons from China and European countries such as Germany and France.

Pakistan has received another $2.1 billion under the Foreign Military Financing programme, between 2002 and now. This entire amount is utilized by Pakistan officially for military weapons purchases from US companies. Pakistan can decide the kind of hardware it needs from US companies and Pentagon then processes the purchases. Pakistan has utilized this entire amount in buying up new F-16 fighters, helicopters, artillery guns etc.

Pakistan Counter Insurgency Capability Fund was started in 2009. In just the last two years, Pakistan has received $1.1 billion from the US under this head. Indian security establishment believes Pakistan will receive at least $1 billion in the coming year too.

Besides these three, there are six other heads under which Pakistan receives security related funds. Those six heads together add up to $1.17 billion. Thus, under security-related heads, Pakistan has received a total of $12.57 billion in these nine years.

Under various heads meant for economic assistance, Pakistan has received $6.04 billion from the US.

There have always been doubts about how Pakistan was spending the whopping assistance that was flowing in from the US. In September 2009, former president Pervez Musharraf admitted that a part of the money given by US for the war on terror was used to strengthen Pakistan's capabilities to fight India. There have also been reports from Pakistan contradicting Musharraf's statement. There have also been doubts expressed in the US about the way the unaccounted cash was being utilized. Once credited to Pakistan, there is no way US can keep a check on most of these payments.

In the past few months, the US Congress has tried to step up its oversight on payments to the Pakistan military. The difficulty is the opacity of the military establishment itself and their refusal to open themselves up for scrutiny. In fact, when the Kerry-Lugar Bill suggested similar oversight, the Pakistan army led a campaign to oppose the bill itself. The US backed down. Diplomatic sources said Pakistan has been diverting aid for some time now for conventional weaponry, and apart from China, has been shopping in Australia, Europe etc, though they remain out of the big defence suppliers like Russia and Israel.

According to estimates from Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Pakistan has bought $2.1 billion worth of arms from China and $746 million worth from France among others. Including from the US, Pakistan has imported $5.2 billion worth of arms between 2001 and 09. A senior Indian official said that seemed to be far below what had really happened, especially on the Chinese front.

Pakistan's official defence outlay is under two heads: the defence budget of $5.18 billion and Armed Forces Development Plan of $1.29 billion for this financial year.

US Tells India Arms Sales to Pakistan Will Continue

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2557887/posts

The top U.S. military officer told Indian leaders Friday the United States will continue to sell weapons to Pakistan, and that the sales do not pose a threat to India.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen says he is confident the weapons the United States is selling to Pakistan are being used for their intended purpose - to fight al-Qaida and related terrorist organizations. But he says he urged Indian leaders to continue to discuss their concerns with him and other U.S. officials.

“We certainly understand the concerns and at the same time I don’t believe that we’ve sold any weapons to Pakistan which greatly imbalance the capability between the two countries.”

The admiral said the United States does not monitor the exact location or use of each item it sells to Pakistan, but his confidence they are being used properly is based on the increased trust between the U.S. and Pakistani governments built up in recent years.

U.S. officials also noted that the United States has sold sophisticated weapons to India, and is working on more sales, possibly including fighter jets.

Admiral Mullen praised recent improvements in U.S.-Indian relations, including an agreement signed Friday by the American ambassador and India’s Home Minister to create a Counterterrorism Cooperation Initiative. The initiative includes a plan for cooperation on cyber security, which Admiral Mullen cited as a key area for U.S.-Indian cooperation.

The admiral welcomed the recent India-Pakistan dialogue, but said he was “discouraged” when the talks broke down. And he said he shares concerns about the activities of Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI, which has been accused of supporting terrorist groups including the Haqqani network in Afghanistan and Lashkar-e-Taiba, which carried out the Mumbai attacks in 2008. Mullen says the ISI needs to “fundamentally change” its strategic approach.

“The ISI is an organization that has operated within Pakistan in concert with what it believes are its own national interests. And at the same time, there’s an awful lot about them that I don’t know,” he said.

The admiral said some elements of the ISI clearly operate on orders from the Pakistani government, but he could not say whether all the group’s activities are under the government’s control.

Admiral Mullen said he expresses his concerns about ISI to Pakistani leaders on a regular basis, and he will do so again when he meets them later in this trip through the region.

I don’t believe it.

The Pakistanis would never pull any shenanigans like that.

And of course, Mullen’s statement is political jujitsu, and forgiveable in that sense, but otherwise asinine and demolishing American credibility by such a blatant lie.

But relations between the two countries and their militaries are pretty much peachy overall, and hence Injuns will just shrug Mullen’s statement as “oh, those wacky Yankees”.

And as far as the “revelation” of Pakistani duplicity, almost enough for a good chuckle over chai, beer or Scotch.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

WAKE UP AMERICA!