Chapter 5: Terrorist Safe Havens (7120 Report) -- 5.2. Support for Pakistan
Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism
April 30, 2009
The 9/11 Commission recommended the United States "make the difficult long-term commitment to the future of Pakistan" and "support Pakistan's government in its struggle against extremists with a comprehensive effort that extends from military aid to support for better education, so long as Pakistan's leaders remain willing to make difficult choices of their own."
Composition and Levels of Assistance, Including Security and Other Assistance
The United States commitment to a long-term relationship with Pakistan was highlighted by President Bush's pledge to seek from Congress USD three billion in Economic Support Funds (ESF) and Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Pakistan during the five-year period from FY-2005 through FY-2009. Since 2002, U.S. assistance to Pakistan, including security assistance and coalition support funds, totaled approximately $12.4 billion. Approximately $2.0 billion in U.S. assistance, including defense-related security assistance and reimbursements from coalition support funds, was provided to Pakistan from monies appropriated for FY-2008.
In addition to Economic Support Funds and Foreign Military Financing, the United States is also providing other forms of assistance to Pakistan, including funding for Child Survival and Health (CSH), Development Assistance (DA), International Military Education and Training (IMET), International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INCLE), Antiterrorism Assistance (NADR-ATA), Export Control and Border Security (NADR¬EXBS), Small Arms and Light Weapons (NADR-SALW), Terrorism Interdiction Programs (NADR-TIP), Food for Peace (P.L. 480 Title I & II), Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance (ERMA), and International Disaster and Famine Assistance (IDFA). The chart below offers a comparison of selected types of assistance and does not include security cooperation or coalition support fund requests.
The mix of U.S. assistance for Pakistan reflects the diverse ways the United States is cooperating with Pakistan in pursuit of critical USG policy goals. These include countering nuclear proliferation; building a stable and democratic Afghanistan; ensuring peace and stability in South Asia through the continuation of the India-Pakistan reconciliation process; supporting Pakistan's efforts to become a modern, prosperous, democratic state; and assisting it in reconstruction efforts from the October 8, 2005 earthquake.
U.S. Foreign Military Financing (FMF) funding for Pakistan supports improved border security and control along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, improves Pakistan’s counterterrorism capabilities and enhances Pakistan’s force modernization through equipment acquisitions, upgrades and maintenance. FMF is helping to make Pakistan more secure so that it can more readily take the steps necessary to build a durable peace with all its neighbors, thus fostering security and stability throughout the South Asia region. FMF is being used by Pakistan to upgrade and maintain helicopters, aircraft, weapons systems, munitions, and other equipment, which have enabled Pakistan's armed forces to operate against foreign terrorists and militants in the rugged border areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Since 2001, over 2,000 Pakistani military personnel have been killed carrying out counterterrorism operations.
International Military Education and Training (IMET) assistance to Pakistan complements FMF by exposing Pakistani officers to U.S. doctrine, systems, and culture, promoting military-to-military cooperation, increased professionalism, and enhanced military interoperability between Pakistan and the United States. IMET also assists Pakistan in developing expertise to more effectively manage its defense establishment; building the military’s technical skills to better operate and maintain U.S.-origin equipment; and promoting military subordination to democratic civilian rule and respect for human rights. Post is seeking sizable future increases in IMET to help bridge the gap created in U.S.-Pakistani military exchanges during the years Pakistan was sanctioned which prevented Pakistani military officials from attending training in the United States.
Measures to Ensure that Assistance Has the Greatest Long-Term Positive Impact on the Welfare of Pakistani People and Their Ability to Counter Terrorism
Economic Support Funds, Development Assistance, and Child Survival and Health assistance were used to improve the lives of ordinary Pakistanis; lay the groundwork for the country's sustained economic growth; and strengthen social, political, and economic institutions, thus alleviating the conditions that terrorists exploit while demonstrating that United States’ interests in Pakistan extends beyond counterterrorism to concern for the Pakistani people as a whole.
Pakistan's low literacy rate greatly hampers its ability to develop and expand its economic base. Literacy averages 54 percent nationwide, and in Pakistan's remote tribal areas can be as low as 0.5 percent for women. The dearth of good public schools results in thousands of youth attending madrassas, schools that teach mainly religious subjects, some of which promote a radical, violent ideology. To tackle these problems, USG-funded education programs in Pakistan are aimed at improving the quality of education in Pakistani primary and secondary schools, especially in Baluchistan, Sindh, and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA); improving early childhood education; training teachers; increasing parental and community involvement in schools; ensuring teachers have adequate classroom materials; improving access to schools, and promoting the development of a new generation of Pakistani leaders by providing scholarships for disadvantaged students to obtain a higher education. Adult and youth literacy education programs are targeting out-of-school youth and illiterate adult populations, with a focus on women and girls. In addition, post-secondary student exchanges play a large part in our education efforts, with Pakistan's Fulbright Program being the largest U.S. government-funded Fulbright Program in the world.
Democratization is another key focus of United States assistance to Pakistan. Democracy is an important tool for countering terrorism over the long term. The programs include several mutually reinforcing components: legislative training to increase the effectiveness, transparency, and accountability of Pakistan's provincial and national parliaments; political party strengthening focused on identifying and training young reformers – tomorrow’s political leadership; support for increased women's political participation; independent media training for journalists; and civil society development designed to increase the capacity of indigenous nongovernmental organizations to serve as policy watchdogs and promote human rights.
Pakistan trails its South Asian neighbors in almost all key health areas: maternal and infant mortality; safe, affordable family planning; and control of infectious diseases. Child Survival and Health funds have been used to increase availability of maternal and child health services, especially in rural areas; to ensure that families who want to space births can access high quality family planning services; to help maintain Pakistan's low human immunodeficiency virus prevalence rate by increasing awareness; to eradicate polio; to support continued progress in TB diagnosis and treatment; and to increase communities’ access to clean drinking water and their practice of adequate hygiene behaviors.
The United States supports Pakistan’s economic growth. New programs are being developed to create jobs and increase incomes. Current programs providing microfinance and small business lending in rural and peri-urban areas will continue to enable enterprise development and smooth income streams for the poor. Programs improving the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises are assisting the growth of Pakistani exports. By generating frequent, positive coverage in the local press, these programs are helping to improve the image of U.S. government assistance.
Earthquake reconstruction efforts entered their fourth year in 2008, and continued to rebuild, furnish, and supply health and education sector infrastructure and human resource capacities; to re-establish the livelihoods of earthquake victims; to resettle displaced victims; and to train skilled and unskilled individuals in vocational training, agriculture and livestock development, asset formation, enterprise development, micro-credit, and market restoration.
Economic Support Funds and Child Survival and Health monies helped fund the government’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas Sustainable Development Plan to improve governance and encourage economic development of the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement funds for Pakistan continued to strengthen border security and enable law enforcement access to remote areas along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, thus enhancing the country's capability to interdict traffickers in narcotics, arms, persons, and contraband, as well as terrorists. International Narcotics and Law Enforcement funds were used to reform, strengthen, and improve cooperation between Pakistan's law enforcement agencies. International Narcotics and Law Enforcement funds supported a counternarcotics Air Wing based in Quetta, Baluchistan, operated by Pakistan's Interior Ministry. The Wing includes C-208 Caravan fixed-wing surveillance aircraft and UH-2 Huey II helicopters.
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement funds were also used to procure vehicles and communications, surveillance, and related equipment for border control and counter-narcotics activities; fund infrastructure projects to enhance roads in inaccessible parts of FATA; fund an Automated Fingerprint Identification System and National Criminal Database; and fund training and equipment to expand law enforcement investigative skills and forensic capacities.
Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, Demining, and Related Programs/Export Control and Related Border Security assistance strengthened Pakistan's export control system and thus prevented weapons of mass destruction and related technology transfers that raise proliferation concerns. Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, Demining, and Related Programs/Export Control and Related Border Security funds are used for nonproliferation export control training addressing legal/regulatory reform, export licensing systems, customs enforcement, general inspection, weapons of mass destruction detection training for border control personnel, and procuring specialized radiation/chemical detection equipment.
Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, Demining, and Related Programs/Antiterrorism Assistance funding for Pakistan enhances the capabilities of elite national police units responsible for counterterrorism investigations and tactical operations. Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, Demining, and Related Programs/Antiterrorism Assistance trained the Special Investigation Group and crisis response teams that were integral in making arrests after the December 2003 assassination attempts on President Musharraf and the May 2004 car bombs near the U.S Consulate in Karachi.
Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, Demining, and Related Programs/Terrorism Interdiction Programs funding for Pakistan is being used to support the Personal Identification Secure Comparison Evaluation System automated border control system. Funds were used to sustain ongoing program operations and expand coverage to additional Pakistani ports-of-entry.
Measures to Alleviate Difficulties, Misunderstandings, and Complications in United States-Pakistani Relations
The United States and Pakistan engaged in extensive consultations to ensure that U.S. foreign assistance has the greatest long-term benefit for Pakistanis and enhances the country's ability to counter terrorism. The United States participated in the annual Pakistan Development Forum, which brought together the Government of Pakistan and bilateral and multilateral donors to discuss Pakistan's development priorities and assistance needs. The United States holds regular consultations with major donors including Great Britain, the European Union, Japan, the Asian Development Bank, and the World Bank, to ensure that assistance to Pakistan is effectively coordinated for maximum impact.
The USAID Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) Development Program supported the Government of Pakistan’s FATA Sustainable Development Plan. The USAID program focused on improving health, education, access to and availability of jobs, and capacity-building of FATA institutions. In education, USAID is improving access and quality of education for students by building and furnishing 62 primary, middle, and high schools; awarding scholarships to enable 37 women from this area to attend a one-year, pre-service teacher education program; and building or restoring water and sanitation facilities at 190 girls' primary schools and in 90 villages.
In health, USAID is improving the quality of drinking water, training health practitioners, providing polio vaccines, and immunizing children. To date, the United States has conducted 13 polio eradication campaigns in the FATA. USAID is promoting competitiveness initiatives to support both the marble and granite, and gems and jewelry sectors of the local economy, as well as providing jobs, training opportunities, and access to micro loans. Finally, the program is building the capacity of the FATA Secretariat and other Government of Pakistan institutions to improve their ability to deliver services and ensure the sustainability of USAID’s development efforts in the region.
USAID GLOBAL EXPORT PROMOTION PROGRAMS
The Pakistan Initiative for Strategic Development and Competitiveness (PISDAC) project aimed to increase the competitiveness of small- and medium-sized enterprises in the country. Sectors currently covered under the project are gems, jewelry, dairy, horticulture, surgical supplies, furniture, and marble granite. The project has focused on several prominent Pakistani industries and formed six strategic working groups composed of business people from the industries that develop sector-specific strategies.
USAID supported the Government of Pakistan's education reform strategy by: (1) strengthening education policy and planning; (2) improving the skills and performance of teachers and administrators; (3) increasing youth and adult literacy; (4) expanding public-private partnerships; and (5) providing school improvement grants and involving parents and communities in public schools.
Composition and Levels of Assistance, Including Security and Other Assistance
The United States commitment to a long-term relationship with Pakistan was highlighted by President Bush's pledge to seek from Congress USD three billion in Economic Support Funds (ESF) and Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Pakistan during the five-year period from FY-2005 through FY-2009. Since 2002, U.S. assistance to Pakistan, including security assistance and coalition support funds, totaled approximately $12.4 billion. Approximately $2.0 billion in U.S. assistance, including defense-related security assistance and reimbursements from coalition support funds, was provided to Pakistan from monies appropriated for FY-2008.
In addition to Economic Support Funds and Foreign Military Financing, the United States is also providing other forms of assistance to Pakistan, including funding for Child Survival and Health (CSH), Development Assistance (DA), International Military Education and Training (IMET), International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INCLE), Antiterrorism Assistance (NADR-ATA), Export Control and Border Security (NADR¬EXBS), Small Arms and Light Weapons (NADR-SALW), Terrorism Interdiction Programs (NADR-TIP), Food for Peace (P.L. 480 Title I & II), Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance (ERMA), and International Disaster and Famine Assistance (IDFA). The chart below offers a comparison of selected types of assistance and does not include security cooperation or coalition support fund requests.
Account | FY-2006 | FY-2006 Supplemental | FY-2007 | FY-2007 Supplemental | FY-2008 | FY-2008 Supplemental |
| CSH | 22,800 | 5,300 | 22,400 | 29,800 | ||
| DA | 27,000 | 10,500 | 95,300 | 29,800 | ||
| ESF | 296,600 | 40,500 | 283,700 | 110,000 | 347,200 | |
| FMF | 297,000 | 297,000 | 297,570 | |||
| IMET | 2,037 | 1,992 | 2,129 | |||
| INCLE | 37,620 | 21,350 | 21,800 | |||
| NADR | 8,600 | 10,000 | 9,700 | |||
| P.L 480 TITLE I & II | 17,700 | |||||
| ERMA | 5,300 | |||||
| IDFA | 70,000 | 6,500 | ||||
| TOTAL | 709,320 | 126,300 | 731,750 | 110,000 | 749,000 |
The mix of U.S. assistance for Pakistan reflects the diverse ways the United States is cooperating with Pakistan in pursuit of critical USG policy goals. These include countering nuclear proliferation; building a stable and democratic Afghanistan; ensuring peace and stability in South Asia through the continuation of the India-Pakistan reconciliation process; supporting Pakistan's efforts to become a modern, prosperous, democratic state; and assisting it in reconstruction efforts from the October 8, 2005 earthquake.
U.S. Foreign Military Financing (FMF) funding for Pakistan supports improved border security and control along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, improves Pakistan’s counterterrorism capabilities and enhances Pakistan’s force modernization through equipment acquisitions, upgrades and maintenance. FMF is helping to make Pakistan more secure so that it can more readily take the steps necessary to build a durable peace with all its neighbors, thus fostering security and stability throughout the South Asia region. FMF is being used by Pakistan to upgrade and maintain helicopters, aircraft, weapons systems, munitions, and other equipment, which have enabled Pakistan's armed forces to operate against foreign terrorists and militants in the rugged border areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Since 2001, over 2,000 Pakistani military personnel have been killed carrying out counterterrorism operations.
International Military Education and Training (IMET) assistance to Pakistan complements FMF by exposing Pakistani officers to U.S. doctrine, systems, and culture, promoting military-to-military cooperation, increased professionalism, and enhanced military interoperability between Pakistan and the United States. IMET also assists Pakistan in developing expertise to more effectively manage its defense establishment; building the military’s technical skills to better operate and maintain U.S.-origin equipment; and promoting military subordination to democratic civilian rule and respect for human rights. Post is seeking sizable future increases in IMET to help bridge the gap created in U.S.-Pakistani military exchanges during the years Pakistan was sanctioned which prevented Pakistani military officials from attending training in the United States.
Measures to Ensure that Assistance Has the Greatest Long-Term Positive Impact on the Welfare of Pakistani People and Their Ability to Counter Terrorism
Economic Support Funds, Development Assistance, and Child Survival and Health assistance were used to improve the lives of ordinary Pakistanis; lay the groundwork for the country's sustained economic growth; and strengthen social, political, and economic institutions, thus alleviating the conditions that terrorists exploit while demonstrating that United States’ interests in Pakistan extends beyond counterterrorism to concern for the Pakistani people as a whole.
Pakistan's low literacy rate greatly hampers its ability to develop and expand its economic base. Literacy averages 54 percent nationwide, and in Pakistan's remote tribal areas can be as low as 0.5 percent for women. The dearth of good public schools results in thousands of youth attending madrassas, schools that teach mainly religious subjects, some of which promote a radical, violent ideology. To tackle these problems, USG-funded education programs in Pakistan are aimed at improving the quality of education in Pakistani primary and secondary schools, especially in Baluchistan, Sindh, and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA); improving early childhood education; training teachers; increasing parental and community involvement in schools; ensuring teachers have adequate classroom materials; improving access to schools, and promoting the development of a new generation of Pakistani leaders by providing scholarships for disadvantaged students to obtain a higher education. Adult and youth literacy education programs are targeting out-of-school youth and illiterate adult populations, with a focus on women and girls. In addition, post-secondary student exchanges play a large part in our education efforts, with Pakistan's Fulbright Program being the largest U.S. government-funded Fulbright Program in the world.
Democratization is another key focus of United States assistance to Pakistan. Democracy is an important tool for countering terrorism over the long term. The programs include several mutually reinforcing components: legislative training to increase the effectiveness, transparency, and accountability of Pakistan's provincial and national parliaments; political party strengthening focused on identifying and training young reformers – tomorrow’s political leadership; support for increased women's political participation; independent media training for journalists; and civil society development designed to increase the capacity of indigenous nongovernmental organizations to serve as policy watchdogs and promote human rights.
Pakistan trails its South Asian neighbors in almost all key health areas: maternal and infant mortality; safe, affordable family planning; and control of infectious diseases. Child Survival and Health funds have been used to increase availability of maternal and child health services, especially in rural areas; to ensure that families who want to space births can access high quality family planning services; to help maintain Pakistan's low human immunodeficiency virus prevalence rate by increasing awareness; to eradicate polio; to support continued progress in TB diagnosis and treatment; and to increase communities’ access to clean drinking water and their practice of adequate hygiene behaviors.
The United States supports Pakistan’s economic growth. New programs are being developed to create jobs and increase incomes. Current programs providing microfinance and small business lending in rural and peri-urban areas will continue to enable enterprise development and smooth income streams for the poor. Programs improving the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises are assisting the growth of Pakistani exports. By generating frequent, positive coverage in the local press, these programs are helping to improve the image of U.S. government assistance.
Earthquake reconstruction efforts entered their fourth year in 2008, and continued to rebuild, furnish, and supply health and education sector infrastructure and human resource capacities; to re-establish the livelihoods of earthquake victims; to resettle displaced victims; and to train skilled and unskilled individuals in vocational training, agriculture and livestock development, asset formation, enterprise development, micro-credit, and market restoration.
Economic Support Funds and Child Survival and Health monies helped fund the government’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas Sustainable Development Plan to improve governance and encourage economic development of the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement funds for Pakistan continued to strengthen border security and enable law enforcement access to remote areas along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, thus enhancing the country's capability to interdict traffickers in narcotics, arms, persons, and contraband, as well as terrorists. International Narcotics and Law Enforcement funds were used to reform, strengthen, and improve cooperation between Pakistan's law enforcement agencies. International Narcotics and Law Enforcement funds supported a counternarcotics Air Wing based in Quetta, Baluchistan, operated by Pakistan's Interior Ministry. The Wing includes C-208 Caravan fixed-wing surveillance aircraft and UH-2 Huey II helicopters.
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement funds were also used to procure vehicles and communications, surveillance, and related equipment for border control and counter-narcotics activities; fund infrastructure projects to enhance roads in inaccessible parts of FATA; fund an Automated Fingerprint Identification System and National Criminal Database; and fund training and equipment to expand law enforcement investigative skills and forensic capacities.
Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, Demining, and Related Programs/Export Control and Related Border Security assistance strengthened Pakistan's export control system and thus prevented weapons of mass destruction and related technology transfers that raise proliferation concerns. Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, Demining, and Related Programs/Export Control and Related Border Security funds are used for nonproliferation export control training addressing legal/regulatory reform, export licensing systems, customs enforcement, general inspection, weapons of mass destruction detection training for border control personnel, and procuring specialized radiation/chemical detection equipment.
Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, Demining, and Related Programs/Antiterrorism Assistance funding for Pakistan enhances the capabilities of elite national police units responsible for counterterrorism investigations and tactical operations. Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, Demining, and Related Programs/Antiterrorism Assistance trained the Special Investigation Group and crisis response teams that were integral in making arrests after the December 2003 assassination attempts on President Musharraf and the May 2004 car bombs near the U.S Consulate in Karachi.
Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, Demining, and Related Programs/Terrorism Interdiction Programs funding for Pakistan is being used to support the Personal Identification Secure Comparison Evaluation System automated border control system. Funds were used to sustain ongoing program operations and expand coverage to additional Pakistani ports-of-entry.
Measures to Alleviate Difficulties, Misunderstandings, and Complications in United States-Pakistani Relations
The United States and Pakistan engaged in extensive consultations to ensure that U.S. foreign assistance has the greatest long-term benefit for Pakistanis and enhances the country's ability to counter terrorism. The United States participated in the annual Pakistan Development Forum, which brought together the Government of Pakistan and bilateral and multilateral donors to discuss Pakistan's development priorities and assistance needs. The United States holds regular consultations with major donors including Great Britain, the European Union, Japan, the Asian Development Bank, and the World Bank, to ensure that assistance to Pakistan is effectively coordinated for maximum impact.
The USAID Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) Development Program supported the Government of Pakistan’s FATA Sustainable Development Plan. The USAID program focused on improving health, education, access to and availability of jobs, and capacity-building of FATA institutions. In education, USAID is improving access and quality of education for students by building and furnishing 62 primary, middle, and high schools; awarding scholarships to enable 37 women from this area to attend a one-year, pre-service teacher education program; and building or restoring water and sanitation facilities at 190 girls' primary schools and in 90 villages.
In health, USAID is improving the quality of drinking water, training health practitioners, providing polio vaccines, and immunizing children. To date, the United States has conducted 13 polio eradication campaigns in the FATA. USAID is promoting competitiveness initiatives to support both the marble and granite, and gems and jewelry sectors of the local economy, as well as providing jobs, training opportunities, and access to micro loans. Finally, the program is building the capacity of the FATA Secretariat and other Government of Pakistan institutions to improve their ability to deliver services and ensure the sustainability of USAID’s development efforts in the region.
USAID GLOBAL EXPORT PROMOTION PROGRAMS
The Pakistan Initiative for Strategic Development and Competitiveness (PISDAC) project aimed to increase the competitiveness of small- and medium-sized enterprises in the country. Sectors currently covered under the project are gems, jewelry, dairy, horticulture, surgical supplies, furniture, and marble granite. The project has focused on several prominent Pakistani industries and formed six strategic working groups composed of business people from the industries that develop sector-specific strategies.
USAID supported the Government of Pakistan's education reform strategy by: (1) strengthening education policy and planning; (2) improving the skills and performance of teachers and administrators; (3) increasing youth and adult literacy; (4) expanding public-private partnerships; and (5) providing school improvement grants and involving parents and communities in public schools.
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