Proposed US aid cut not to hit military aid: Pak

Islamabad, June 12: Pakistan today hoped a proposed cut by the United States in financial aid to foreign countries would not affect Pakistan's military and economic assistance.

The US had announced a three billion dollar military and economic aid package for Pakistan in June 2003 during President Pervez Musharraf's visit to Washington.

''It cannot be attributed to a shift in the US policy, as the house of representative proposed an overall cut in foreign assistance from 23.7 billion dollar to 21.3 billion dollar for 2007,'' Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tasneem Aslam told a weekly press briefing here.

Under the five-year 3 billion programme, the United States is providing around 600 million dollar annually, which is equally divided between Economic Support Fund (ESF) and Foreign Military Assistance (FMA) to Pakistan.

The spokesperson said the proposed cut is yet to be considered by the Senate. She said last year too, a reduction of 80 million dollar in aid for Pakistan was proposed but was restored later.

Last year, the United States provided 701 million dollar, including 300 each for ESF and FMA, besides 111 million for fighting narcotic and funding education and other programmes In 2006, 695 million dollar was allocated, of which 350 million was for ESF.

In 2007, the administration had proposed a cut of 100 million dollar in FMA and 50 million in ESF, she said but hoped the proposed cuts would be withdrawn.

UNI