AID TO PAKISTAN IN THE SPOTLIGHT
The capture and killing of Osama bin Laden by a team of US Navy SEALs on May 2 at a compound in an affluent neighborhood in Abottabad, Pakistan has sparked renewed debate inside Washington about the utility of supplying Pakistan with billions of dollars in U.S. aid every year. However, even before bin Laden was found hiding just a half of a mile from Pakistan’s premier military academy, U.S. aid to that country -- including the Obama administration’s new five-year, $7.5 billion civilian aid package passed in 2009 -- had come under heavy scrutiny. A New York Times report found that “so inadequate is Pakistan’s civilian bureaucracy and so rife are [U.S] fears of corruption… that American officials, constricted by their own rules, have struggled to find safe places to actually invest the money available. Instead of polishing the tarnished image of America… the plan has resulted in bitterness and a sense of broken promises.” Of the $1.5 billion appropriated for civilian aid in 2010, only $179.5 million had been dispersed by December. The Obama administration hoped to channel at least half of the funds through the Pakistani government, but the effort has been stifled by widespread corruption and in some areas security concerns. USAID ran into a similar problem with a two-year, $750 million development program for the tribal areas started in 2008. Only half of the projects were carried out. (New York Times May 1, 2011)
INDIA WARMS TO TALIBAN TALKS
India’s policy toward Afghanistan has done something of an about-face, with New Delhi deciding to throw its weight behind government talks with Taliban after years of resisting such efforts. India has been one of Afghanistan’s largest aid donors, providing some $1.5 billion in funds toward infrastructure and power projects, and to build hospitals and government buildings. However, it has long opposed plans floated by Afghanistan and the West to reach a negotiated settlement with the Taliban, viewing the radical militant group as a Pakistani proxy and a natural enemy. Yet during a visit to Afghanistan by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in May – his first since 2005 – the Indian leader said his country “strongly support[s] the Afghan people’s quest for peace and reconciliation. India supports the unity, integrity and prosperity of Afghanistan.” Singh also pledged further aid to rebuild Afghan society and held talks on regional stability and counterterrorism. Afghan President Hamid Karzai went to college in India and has visited New Delhi a half dozen times in recent years while opinion polling shows Afghans more favorably disposed toward India than any other country. (Times of India May 12, 2011)
INDIA GIVES PAK 50 MOST WANTED
In the aftermath of the killing of Osama bin Laden inside Pakistani territory, it has been revealed that just months earlier, India presented Pakistan with its own list of “most wanted” terrorists operating inside Pakistan. The list comprises the 50 “most wanted fugitives” hiding in Pakistan, including the founder of Lashkar e Taiba (LeT), Hafiz Saeed; underworld kingpin Dawood Ibrahim; and LeT leader Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. The list, which was provided to Pakistan at home secretary-level talks in March, also includes Major Iqbal, a suspected ISI officer who has been connected to the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, as well as nine others suspected of having involvement in Mumbai. Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar and Ilyas Kashmiri, a prospective successor to Osama bin Laden, were also on the list. (Times of India May 11, 2011)
[Editor’s note: Over the past year, India and Pakistan have resumed high-level dialogue on a range of issues after a long freeze following the attacks on Mumbai in November2008 by Pakistani-based terrorists. However, the capture of bin Laden in a wealthy Pakistani neighborhood has again brought Pakistan’s support for Islamist militants back into the spotlight and raised tough questions in India. Some in New Delhi feel vindicated, having complained to Washington for years that Pakistan was openly harboring militants. Others have asked why India cannot make its own unilateral raids into Pakistan to capture or kill known terrorists operating there. Still more have asked if India is as vulnerable as Pakistan to a unilateral raid into its territory, and what defenses must be bolstered to prevent such an operation.]
STEALTH TECHNOLOGY MAY GO FROM PAK TO CHINA
One of the unintended consequences of the raid on bin Laden’s hideout in Abottabad, Pakistan, was the downing of a modified U.S. Blackhawk helicopter, apparently due to technical malfunction. The SEAL team aboard the chopper, which escaped unharmed in another U.S. chopper, was able to destroy the bulk of the downed aircraft. However, a piece of the tail remained intact and has shown up in pictures splashed across the internet. The images depict a heavily modified, highly advanced design significantly different from traditional Blackhawk helicopters, prompting speculation that the chopper was outfitted with classified new stealth technology. Officials in Washington have admitted they are concerned that the technology could fall into the hands of China, which maintains a robust, “all-weather” relationship with Pakistan. Far from denying this possibility, Pakistani officials have told ABC news the Chinese were “very interested” in seeing the helicopter parts and admitted “We might let them take a look.” Washington has demanded immediate return of the chopper, convinced that “it is probable, given Pakistan’s history, that our technology has already found its way into the hands of the Communist Chinese military,” according to Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. In 1998 Pakistan transferred to China an unexploded American Tomahawk missile recovered by the Taliban which Beijing has since reverse engineered and discovered its vulnerabilities. (Press Trust of India May 12, 2011)