U.S. cuts $800 million to Pakistan in security aide: White House
By Alison Gendar
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Originally Published:Sunday, July 10th 2011, 3:06 PM
Updated: Sunday, July 10th 2011, 3:06 PM
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty
Obama administration has slashed aide to Pakistan following dispute over Osama bin Laden operation that left the terror leader dead.
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WASHINGTON - The U.S. cut off $800 million in aid to Pakistan's military - punishment for not stepping up in the fight against terror, the Obama administration said Sunday.
"Obviously they have been an important ally in the fight on terrorism. They've been the victim of enormous amounts of terrorism," Bill Daley told ABC's "This Week."
"But right now they have taken some steps that have given us reason to pause on some of the aid which we were giving to their military, and we're trying to work through that," he told "This Week's" Christiane Amanpour.
The cuts, first reported today by the New York Times, would hold back more than one-third of the $2 billion the U.S. sends Pakistan each year for security.
Protestors torch an effigy of Obama in Karachi. (Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty)
The always problematic alliance between the U.S. and Pakistan took a nose-dive in May, when American forces found and killed Osama bin Laden in a suburb of the Pakistan capital.
Congress went ballistic in June when Pakistan's spy agency took into custody the half-dozen or so Pakistani informants who were instrumental in helping the U.S. find bin Laden.
That move was seen as Pakistan's way to eliminate any eyes on the ground that would enable America to conduct similar raids in the future, lawmakers said.
By choking off military funds, the U.S. hopes to force Pakistan to choose between its subrosa support of the Taliban and other militants - and America, the nation that writes the checks for much of its military .
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