The United States on Friday pledged two billion dollars in military aid to Pakistan and hailed its efforts to battle extremists, seeking to bolster an uneasy alliance with the frontline nation. The military package, keenly sought by Pakistan's leaders, marks the latest twist in the two nations' crisis-prone relationship but risks causing unease in India just two weeks before a visit to New Delhi by President Barack Obama.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the administration would ask Congress to approve two billion dollars in military aid from 2012 to 2016 as part of the United States' "enduring commitment to help Pakistan plan for its defence needs." "The United States has no stronger partner when it comes to counter-terrorism efforts against the extremists who threaten us both than Pakistan," Clinton said at high-level, three-day talks between the two nations. The military package would be in addition to 7.5 billion dollars which Congress last year committed over five years in civilian aid, including building schools and roads, in a bid to dent the allure of extremists.
Pakistan, which had been the main backer of Afghanistan's Taliban regime, dumped its support overnight after the September 11, 2001 attacks and became the pivotal US partner offering access into its north-western neighbour. US officials have long questioned whether Pakistan has fully cut off ties to Afghanistan's Taliban or acted against extremists at home. But Pakistan last year launched a major offensive on home-grown Taliban, who moved perilously close to the nuclear power's capital Islamabad.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who is accompanied by the army chief to the strategic dialogue in Washington, denounced criticism of his country's efforts against extremism. "There are still tongue-in-cheek comments, even in this capital, about Pakistan's heart not really being in this fight. I do not know what greater evidence to offer than the blood of our people," Qureshi said, sitting next to Clinton.
"We are determined to win this fight," Qureshi said. Clinton said that Americans "recognise and appreciate the sacrifice and service" of Pakistan's military. "These groups threaten the security first and foremost of the people of Pakistan, of neighbours, of the United States and indeed the world," Clinton said.
But a White House report to Congress this month faulted Pakistan for not working against Afghanistan's Taliban, in what experts say is an attempt by Islamabad to preserve influence in its neighbour if and when US troops leave. The United States and India have also said that Pakistan should do more to rein in fervently anti-Indian groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is blamed for orchestrating the bloody 2008 siege of Mumbai.
Obama plans to pay his first presidential visit to India next month in an effort to show his personal commitment to broadening the relationship between the world's two largest democracies. Indian commentators have worried about Obama's early focus on Pakistan and China - concerns unlikely to be allayed by the military package.
India, which has fought three full-fledged wars with Pakistan, has begrudgingly accepted the need for civilian aid to Pakistan but in the past voiced fears that any military assistance would be used against India, not extremists. The authors of last year's civilian aid package, Senators John Kerry and Richard Lugar and Representative Howard Berman, had framed it as a turning point in support of democracy after years of US efforts to boost the nation's powerful army. The Pakistani army initially criticised the civilian aid package, calling it foreign interference.