US House approves Pakistan aid boost

WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives on Thursday voted to ramp up aid to Pakistan but lawmakers still need to resolve deep differences on how many strings come attached. The House voted largely along party lines, 238 to 183, to triple US aid to 1.5 billion dollars annually through the 2013 fiscal year, focusing on development spending aimed at weaning Pakistanis away from Islamic extremists. "This legislation helps to lay the foundation for a stronger, more stable Pakistan," said Howard Berman, who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee. President Barack Obama has strongly endorsed boosting assistance to fight Al-Qaeda movements in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan, which he has made a top priority of his young administration. While key members of the rival Republican Party support boosting aid to Pakistan, the lawmakers mostly voted against the House bill, arguing that its conditions for Pakistan to keep receiving the aid were too onerous. The Republicans have found unlikely common cause with Senate Democrats such as John Kerry, who has agreed with Islamabad's case that strict aid conditions risk alienating a Pakistani public already suspicious of US goals. "Our Democratic colleagues decided to load this bill up with ill-conceived provisions to micro-manage US security assistance to Pakistan," said Dan Burton, the top Republican on the House committee handling South Asia. "This is not just a debate between (US lawmakers), this is about war and peace and the survivability of Pakistan as an independent nation. It's about winning or losing the war in Afghanistan," he said. House and Senate members will need to reconcile their two bills, a process which lawmakers say could take a couple of months. House Democrats vowed to fight to leave in requirements that the United States keep a detailed account of how Pakistan spends the money and seek proof that Pakistan is clamping down on extremists. "We are simply asking Pakistan to follow through with the commitments it has already made," Berman said. "And in the process, we lay down an important marker that Congress will no longer provide a blank check."