US releases $523m in aid: Dawn

By Anwar Iqbal

WASHINGTON, June 24: The United States has released and approved more than $523 million to Pakistan over the past two days, doing away with the impression that Washington may bring financial restrictions on Islamabad to spur it to do more in the war against terror.

The US House of Representatives approved $150 million of economic assistance to Pakistan on Tuesday, which is additional to the aid Pakistan gets under a $3 billion package signed during President Pervez Musharraf's visit to Camp David in 2003.On Monday, the United States transferred $373.841 million to Pakistan from the coalition support fund. The fund is used for reimbursing Pakistan for the expenses it incurs during anti-terrorism operations along the Afghan border.

"We are still looking forward to a long-term commitment from the United States, manifested in a democracy dividend of at least $1.5 billion a year as proposed by two of the wisest senators of the US, Biden and Lugar," said Ambassador Husain Haqqani while commenting on the release of US funds to Pakistan.

"All disagreements between Pakistan and the US will be resolved. And we will not let anything come between our visions of a strategic partnership between the two democracies," he said.

The release of $373 million from the coalition support fund clears dues up to November 2007. Pakistan is still to be reimbursed for November 2007 to March 2008 while Islamabad has not yet submitted bills for the March-May period.

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