US to increase non-military aid to Pakistan to prevent economy-driven "chaos in the country"

Washington, Jan.13 (ANI): The new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John Kerry, has said that he will try to increase the non-military U.S. aid to Pakistan upto three times from what the US offers currently, to prevent the present economic crisis from triggering "chaos in the country."

Kerry said that economic assistance to Pakistan is very necessary as it continue to struggle in the fight against terrorism.

"I think it is essential, they (Pakistan) have a huge economic crisis. If anything winds up being one of the triggers for chaos in the country, it's going to be the economic implosion, as much as anything else," The News quoted Kerry, as saying.

Earlier, the US Vice President-elect Joe Biden, on his visit to Pakistan had drafted a Senate measure which suggested to increase the economic assistance to Pakistan to help fight terrorism in the country.

The Kerry version of the Pakistan aid bill, which he co-drafted with Senator Richard Lugar, recommends a tripling of non-military aid to Islamabad, to $1.5 billion annually, for five years.Kerry said that the prime focus should be to destroy the root cause of terrorism prevalent in Pakistan.

"Look, we can spend $12 billion a month in Iraq, or we can spend over a couple of years $1.5 billion to reduce the potential of terror in the very place where the top terrorists live," he said.

Kerry also hoped to revive the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which would commit United States to refrain from testing nuclear armaments.

The Senate had rejected the CTBT in 1999. (ANI)