US to focus more on non-military Pak aid

Agencies

Washington: Chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senator John Kerry has said that the United States would change the nature of its aid package being delivered to Pakistan from the existing military centric to one which is more focused on non-military.

"We're going to transform the aid package that we're delivering to Pakistan," Kerry told the popular National Public Radio in an interview.

Kerry is planning to introduce a legislation in the US Senate in the next few weeks, which would triple the non-military aid to Pakistan for the next one decade, amounting to USD 1.5 billion per annum.

However, this aid would be directly linked with the Islamabad's success in its war against terrorism, establishment of democracy and the fight against religious fundamentalism.

"There is no military solution to what is happening in either Pakistan or Afghanistan," he said.

The real solution, Kerry argued is going to be to help deliver real services and change and improvement of the quality of life for people in Pakistan.

"This I believe is the real center of our struggle against religious extremism and violence that we've witnessed these last years -- a place that actually has nuclear weapons today!" he said.

When asked why he, in a report released on Wednesday, recommended USD 1 billion new funds for the Pakistani security forces, despite knowing very well the past record of Islamabad in this regard, Kerry said: "We're going to be very directly involved in the oversight and accountability, which did not occur in the previous years."

Acknowledging that there has been "some resistance" Kerry said: "This is not some do-gooder policy. This is in our interest to try empower moderate secular governments to be able to take control of areas which for too long have been ceded to the bad guys."