Following recent movement on the U.S.-India nuclear deal and the need to curry favor while pressing for more aggressive counterterrorism action on the Afghan border, the Bush administration has agreed to shift two-thirds of aid that Congress mandated for counterterrorism purposes to help Pakistan upgrade its fleet of F-16 fighters. This announcement flies in the face of the Biden-Lugar plan to condition military assistance to Pakistan and confirms the conclusion of the General Accountability Office that the Bush administration lacks a comprehensive strategy to deal with the tribal regions of Pakistan.

The Bush administration has agreed to shift $230 million of counterterrorism assistance to upgrade Pakistan’s F-16 fighters, which do nothing to address terrorism. The funds for the F-16s would represent more than two-thirds of the $300 million budget for American military financing to Pakistan, even though Congress specified last year “that those funds be used for law enforcement or counterterrorism.” Use of F-16s in close-air missions poses a great risk of civilian casualties and for that reason, “Pakistan’s military has rarely used its current fleet of F-16s… for close-air support of counterterrorism missions.” Moreover, even if the plan were approved, “the upgraded F-16s would not be available until 2011,” thus playing no role in current counterterrorism efforts. [NY Times, 7/24/08]

The Bush administration has wasted billions on Pakistan’s military. Since the attacks on 9/11, the U.S. has given more than $10 billion in military aid to Pakistan for the campaign against terrorism. Of that money, $5.5 billion was specifically directed to counterinsurgency efforts. However, Congressional auditors say Pakistan spent little to address the growing safe-havens in its autonomous tribal belt. The most recent proposed expenditures have raised further questions of the efficiency of U.S. aid to the Pakistani military. In commenting on the recent proposal, a senior Democratic aide remarked, “Using F-16s this way is like hitting a fly with a sledgehammer.” [NY Times, 7/24/08]

The U.S. needs a comprehensive counterterrorism plan for Pakistan. Democratic Sen. Joe Biden, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Richard Lugar, the committee’s ranking Republican, have proposed a new bill to triple civilian aid to Pakistan to $7.5 billion to get at the poverty and lack of opportunity that make extremism in Pakistan so difficult to combat. The money would go to building roads, schools, and medical facilities. Under the bill, military aid would be conditional on the certification that Pakistani security forces are: “making concerted efforts to prevent al Qaeda and associated terrorist groups from operating in the territory of Pakistan; making concerted efforts to prevent the Taliban from using the territory of Pakistan as a sanctuary from which to launch attacks within Afghanistan; and not materially interfering in the political or judicial processes of Pakistan.” [Reuters, 7/15/2008; AP, 7/15/2008; Joe Biden, 7/15/08]

Quick Hits

Barack Obama emphasized “the importance of negotiation” in the Israel-Palestine conflict on his visit to Israeli towns and the Gaza strip.

He continued to Germany, one of the U.S. allies John McCain has referred to as “vacuous and posturing,” where he hopes his speech “will be viewed as a substantive articulation of the relationship [he’d] like to see between the United States and Europe.”

The Kurdish President of Iraq Talabani today vetoed a controversial provincial election bill that stands accused of partiality against Kurds. The Kurds in Parliament walked out of the room over the issue, which would politically divide the city of Kirkuk, historically Kurdish
In a New York Times Magazine article, a former Bush Administration official said the Pentagon opium eradication effort in Afghanistan was “not pursued aggressively enough”.

Senator Joe Biden echoes Obama’s position to “successfully end the war in Iraq while refocusing on the fight in Afghanistan” in an editorial in USA Today.

Congressional Quarterly lifts the curtain on how NSN and other groups make the sausage.