Washington: A key congressional committee on Thursday approved a law tripling U.S. non-military aid to Pakistan to $1.5 billion annually, but went soft on Islamabad dropping all direct references to India on not allowing its soil to be used to plot terror attacks.
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Approving for passage the Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement (PEACE) Act, 2009, the House Foreign Affairs Committee replaced the word “India” with “neighbouring countries” with regard to Pakistan not allowing its territory to be used to launch terror attacks. The original bill, introduced on April 2 by Committee Chairman Howard L Berman, imposed conditions that Pakistan would not let its territory be used for launching terror attacks against India and would not support any group that indulges in terror activities against India. The version of the Berman bill, which was approved by voice vote, replaced “India” with “neighbouring countries,” apparently at the suggestion of the Obama Administration because Pakistan, in particular its Army and the ISI, had raised strong objections to it. Congressional observers said this meant almost the same, but the word “India” had to be deleted because the Obama Administration told the lawmakers that this could be counter-productive to their overall objective for, the Pakistan establishment was allergic to it.
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US aid law soft on Pakistan - Hindu