Military aid to Pakistan

WASHINGTON: The US Congress is getting ready to impose new restrictions on the military aid to Pakistan, including efforts to track where US military hardware given to Pakistan ends up with a warning that the US aid must not upset the “balance of power in the region”.

The new restrictions, crafted by US Senators Robert Menendez and Bob Crocker, are part of the US defence appropriations 2010, which were passed by the US House of representatives on October 8.

The measures lay out how Pakistan will get reimbursed out of a 1.6-billion-dollar fund for logistical and military support of US-led efforts to battle militants. The new proposed measure requires that the US secretaries of state and defence will certify that “whether such reimbursement is consistent with the national security interest of the United States and will not adversely impact the balance of power in the region.”