Krishna welcomes US aid suspension to Pakistan

By Times of India

The news about US suspending military aid worth $800 million to Pakistan was greeted with understandable excitement in India with foreign minister S M Krishna saying that New Delhi welcomed this development. Krishna suggested that arming Pakistan further could only disturb the "equilibrium" in the region.

"With reference to the special circumstances between India and Pakistan and how India has consistently taken the view that it is not desirable that this region had to be heavily armed by the US which will upset the equilibrium in the region itself. To that extent India welcomes this step," Krishna said.

Krishna was quick to add though that the US should also take note of the fact that India was doing all it could to normalize relations with Pakistan. "Simultaneously, the US must take note of the fact that we are working in a very committed manner to normalise our relations with Pakistan to reduce trust deficit, and efforts are on," he added.

The suspended aid, which is about one-third of the $2.7 billion in annual US military assistance to Pakistan, includes about $300 million meant to reimburse Pakistan for some of the costs incurred for deploying more than 100,000 soldiers along the Afghan border to combat terrorism. It also comprises millions of dollars in training assistance and military hardware.

(The actual aid is much larger......given that Pakistan gets a slice of the arms and logistics that go through Pakistan to Afghanistan meant for the occupation forces in Afghanistan.....so its a guesstimate, but it could be closer to $4---5 billion annual security aid to Pakistan, which one thinks is unnecessary, and a legitimate concern for India. Failed state Pakistan requires butter, not guns. It needs to shift its emphasis away from security, security and security...a common trait in Fascist states.)

Krishna said he was expecting his Pakistani counterpart to visit the country around the end of this month to carry forward the dialogue process. He also condemned the suicide attacks in Islamabad on Monday. "If this is an attack by terrorists or terror-oriented organisations, then India condemns all such attempts. India condemns terror attacks across the globe," he said.