The US assistance for Pakistan is part of a five-year package, agreed during President Pervez Musharraf’s meeting with President George Bush in June 2003…
The US Senate has approved a $785 million assistance package for Pakistan for the fiscal year 2008 as lawmakers passed with a bipartisan 76-17 vote a massive appropriations bill for federal spending on Tuesday night. The House of Representatives had passed the bill late Monday as part of the appropriations act 2008.
Under the package, $ 350 million has been allocated for economic support fund while $ 300 is for security assistance for counterterrorism.
Assistance for development, child health and survival, military education and training and anti-narcotics is also included in the package.
The assistance comes under foreign military assistance program heading of the measure and $ 250 million for counterterrorism and law enforcement activities will be made available immediately. The remaining $ 50 million will be released upon Secretary of State’s reporting on Pakistan’s progress in counterterrorism and democracy.
The $ 555 billion omnibus spending bill combines funding for 14 Cabinet departments with $70 billion for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and includes annual appropriations bills funding domestic agencies and the foreign aid budget for the year that began Oct. 1.