U.S. Aid To Pakistan Endangered By Gov't Ties To Bombers
Posted 07:12 PM ET
http://news.investors.com/Article/594812/201112141912/us-may-cut-aid-to-pakistan.htm
War On Terror: The jig may finally be up for Pakistan. Our "ally" has been caught in another double cross. And for the first time, there's a real chance Congress could cut off its aid.
New U.S. intelligence reveals that most of the material used to make improvised explosive devices used against our troops in Afghanistan originates from two fertilizer factories inside Pakistan.
The Pakistani plants — owned by one of the country's largest companies, Pakarab — have been making more than 300,000 metric tons of ammonium nitrate a year since 2004. The chemical has been traced to more than 80% of the homemade bombs used in Afghanistan to kill American and other coalition soldiers.
This summer alone, U.S. troops detected or were hit by 5,088 IEDs — the most for any three months since the Afghan war began in 2001. Those bombs killed 63 troops and wounded more than 1,200.
The chemical has been trucked to bomb factories inside Pakistan under the protection of Pakistani military intelligence, which the Pentagon says is running a "proxy war" against the U.S. Or it's been smuggled across the Afghan border on trucks, motorcycles, bikes, even donkey carts with the help of Pakistani guards.
Based on these reports, leaders of the House and Senate armed services committees have agreed to freeze $700 million in aid to Islamabad. Even greater cuts may be in store if Pakistan doesn't stop what it's doing.
Washington wants "assurances that Pakistan is countering (IEDs) in their country that are targeting our coalition forces," says Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Sen. John McCain, top Republican on the Senate armed services panel, called for "substantial reductions in aid."
Pulling the plug on Pakistan aid is something we've advocated for years. Islamabad has cost us $20 billion over the past 10 years — Pakistan is one of the largest recipients of U.S. foreign aid — and yet we have little to show for it. In fact, there is evidence some of our "counterterrorism" funds have been diverted to terrorism.
Subscribe to the IBD Editorials Podcast Pakistan hasn't just attacked the U.S. indirectly, through the insurgents it trains and arms, but also directly. Several times over the past year alone — while U.S. aid kept flowing with virtually no strings attached — Pakistani military units fired shots at American troops near the Afghan border.
They've fired hundreds of rockets across the border, as well. In September, U.S. Apache helicopter crews were fired upon by Pakistan.
Washington tried to cover up or downplay these attacks — including even the ambush and murder of an Army major — to protect misguided policy.
But now a fed-up military has reached out to McKeon, McCain and others in Congress to protect the troops.
It's about time. No more blank checks for Pakistan.
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