US non-military aid for Pakistan may triple

[LahoreEstate]

* Newspaper urges US to expedite launch of RoZs

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: The Obama administration is likely to triple non-military aid to Pakistan, US officials have said.

A panel appointed to review the US’ Afghan policy is expected to recommend massive civilian aid to Pakistan and tools to aid counterinsurgency operations, a Washington based newspaper reported on Sunday. A participant in the 60-day review of US policy said President Obama would likely announce the strategy before he leaves for Europe at the end of the month, a trip that includes a NATO summit.

One element of the new US strategy is a massive increase in non-military aid to Pakistan. The review participant said the Obama administration supports a bill introduced last year by Senator Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat who is now the vice president, and Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The legislation calls for increasing annual US non-military aid to Pakistan to $1.5 billion and guaranteeing it for at least five and potentially 10 years. Frederick Jones, a spokesman for the Foreign Relations Committee, said chairman John Kerry intended to reintroduce the legislation soon.

Expedite launch: Separately, an editorial in the Washington Post on Sunday urged the US to expedite the launch of its preferential trade programme in the Tribal Areas to generate new jobs for locals. According to APP, the editorial stressed that establishment of Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (RoZs) would discourage Taliban recruitment.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...2009_pg7_2