Pak rejects NYT report of squandering aid money

The Foreign Office has rejected a report published in the New York Times that Pakistan has squandered over five billion dollars in aid, saying that the report was baseless.

Islamabad, Dec 25 : The Foreign Office has rejected a report published in the New York Times that Pakistan has squandered over five billion dollars in aid, saying that the report was baseless.

The New York Times, in its Monday edition, alleged that five billion in US aid for bolstering military efforts against Al Qaeda and the Taliban was not being used for the purpose intended and was instead being diverted to help finance weapons systems designed to counter India.

A Foreign Office spokesman told a private TV channel that the report was false and negated the counter-terroism efforts made by Pakistan.

The report said that Pakistan had received up to 11 billion dollars in aid from the US, of which over five billion dollars never reached the military units.

The NYT report has quoted American officials as acknowledging the that there are too few controls over how US aid money of over five billion dollars was spent in a failed attempt by the Pakistan Army to fight al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Senior Bush Administration and military officials believed that much of the US aid money was not making its way to frontline Pakistani units. The money received in aid has been diverted to help finance weapons systems designed to counter India, not al Qaeda or the Taliban, the officials said.

Pakistan in reimbursement claims for fuel, ammunition and other costs has claimed from the US tens of millions of dollars, they added.

A senior American military official who reviewed the programme said that he believed that there is exaggeration and inflation in Pakistani requests for reimbursement.

ANI