Pakistan FM tells Washington audience US aid crucial, calls for stronger talks on Afghanistan
By APWednesday, October 7, 2009
Pakistan FM tells Washington group US aid crucial
WASHINGTON — Pakistan’s foreign minister says a proposed multibillion-dollar U.S. aid package is crucial to Islamabad’s efforts to fight terrorists even as his country’s military questioned that aid as potentially meddlesome.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi also told an audience Wednesday at the Council on Foreign Relations that Pakistan and the United States should strengthen consultations as the Obama administration decides whether to send more troops to neighboring Afghanistan.
The aid bill would provide Pakistan with $1.5 billion a year over the next five years to spend on democratic, economic and social development programs.
Qureshi says the U.S. lawmakers responsible for the bill have assured him that the economic aid has no conditions attached.
