US cuts civilian funding to Pakistan, Afghanistan

WASHINGTON: Support on Capitol Hill for aid to Pakistan has plummeted amid accusations that some in the Pakistani government have aided anti-US militants, the State Department said in a new report.
The State Department report said Congress had slipped on its 2009 promise to triple nonmilitary aid to Pakistan over five years. The appropriations reached the promised level of 1.5 billion in 2010, but last year amounted to only 1 billion, the document said.
It said, however, that the Obama administration intended for assistance to Islamabad to continue and wants to focus on “signature” projects in Pakistan. US officials are currently looking to select a major new infrastructure project “that would both contribute to power generation and water management” in Pakistan, it said.
US civilian aid to Afghanistan has peaked, the report said, declaring the United States would spend less on development assistance there as it withdraws troops from the country.
“We have reached the high water mark of our civilian funding levels” for Afghanistan, the department said in a status report on civilian efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan that was sent to congressional offices.
US economic and humanitarian aid to Afghanistan has fallen from 4.1 billion in 2010 to 2.5 billion this year, the report by the Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan said.