After US special forces found
and killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in a Pakistan military town May 2, US
lawmakers from both parties are questioning whether billions of dollars in
annual US aid to Pakistan should continue.
The letter to Pentagon chief
Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was written by Senate
Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein and Finance Committee
Chairman Max Baucus, as well as Senators Robert Menendez, Ben Nelson and Jon Tester.
The discovery of bin Laden in
Abbottabad “indicates, at a minimum, a lack of commitment by the Pakistani
military to aggressive cooperation with the United States,” the senators told
Gates and Clinton.
“It is incongruous to be providing
enormous sums to the Pakistani military unless we are certain that it is
meeting its commitment to locate, disrupt and dismantle terrorist threats
inside its borders,” they said in the letter dated Tuesday.
“Prior to the provision of
any additional assistance ... we urge you to assess Pakistan's commitment,”
they said.
Over $2 billion in security
aid and reimbursements approved in mid-April by Congress could be held up.
Feinstein, Nelson and Tester
are also on the Senate Appropriations Committee, which will help decide whether
Congress will allocate Pakistan any more U.S. aid.
But some congressional
leaders are urging caution, saying Pakistan has also lost many of its own
soldiers fighting extremist groups in its border areas.
“This is not the time to
start flexing our muscles,” Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid told reporters
on Tuesday. “This is the time to withhold judgment” until more is known about
whether Pakistani officials knew where bin Laden was hiding.
Over the last decade,
Congress has approved about $20 billion for Pakistan in economic aid and
military reimbursements for helping to fight extremists in the region. About
half of this has been security-related.
