US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and several other congressmen have expressed concerns over the diversion of its aid money by Pakistan for other purposes, even as the United States has tried to build a firewall in this regard.
“Well, we certainly have constructed one,” Clinton told lawmakers at a Congressional hearing on Tuesday when Senator Jim Webb asked if the US had developed a firewall for the financial aid going into Pakistan to avoid chances of US money going into the expansion of the country’s nuclear programme. “I think the fair question is: Even with a firewall, if you provide aid for other purposes, does that permit the government then to divert funds that should be spent for health, education, energy, etc to that programme? And it remains a serious concern of mine,” Clinton said. She said that part of the ongoing dialogue with Pakistan is around the reforms the Pakistanis need to make for their own people, adding that Pakistan over the years had invested a great deal in its military.
“They have invested the great bulk of their revenues into their military establishment, including their nuclear programme, to the great cost of providing basic education, health care, electricity — the kinds of things that would demonstrate to the people of Pakistan they had a government that number one, cared about them; and number two, produced for them,” she said.
“So I can answer the direct question: Yes, we have a firewall, but that isn’t the end of the dialogue — as you know very well. And we’re going to keep pressing hard to make sure that, you know, the IMF and the World Bank and we and others are working toward the kind of reforms that are going to stabilise Pakistan for the long term,” Clinton said.
SHAKEEL AFRIDI: According to Washington Post, Clinton said Pakistan has “no basis” for detaining Dr Shakeel Afridi, who provided the US with key information before the raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound. She said that Afridi’s work served Pakistani and American interests.
US doubts Pakistan’s use of aid
