The United States continues counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan, the State Department said on Friday, but gave no specific comment on a House of Representatives measure proposing $650 million cut in aid for Pakistan in the next fiscal year.
Spokesman Patrick Ventrell said the US administration continued to consult Congress but had no particular comment on the ongoing legislative process. “We continue to obviously support our Pakistani counterparts in key areas like counterterrorism,” he said. The House passed a legislation proposing a cut in security aid for Pakistan by $650 million. The measure will have to be passed by Senate for it to become effective. The new US fiscal year 2013, starts from October 1, 2012. Islamabad’s Ambassador to Washington Sherry Rehman and her colleagues, including Pakistan’s lobbyists, were engaged with the Capitol Hill late into the evening when the voting went on. The bill has yet to be reconciled with the Senate version, and has some way to go before it becomes a policy. Meanwhile, the Pakistani envoy continued to interact with Congressional leaders as part of diplomatic outreach to present Islamabad’s views on various issues straining the bilateral ties. The relations between the two countries have shown signs of improvement after the American public apology over Salala airstrike and Pakistan’s subsequent reopening of key supply routes into landlocked Afghanistan, where the US-led forces are now working toward security transition and drawdown of combat troops by 2014.
