US AID TO PAK WAS LEGAL BRIBERY FOR GENERALS: BOOK

LONDON : A large part of the nowsuspended US security aid to Pakistan was a sort of “legal bribery” to Pakistani generals, an upcoming book about America’s Afghan war and its one-time ally argues.

Author Steve Coll has cited the Coalition Support Funds (CSF) as the source of this “bribery”. Under CSF, the Pentagon transferred billions of dollars to Islamabad as reimbursement for Pakistani military’s counterterrorism operations in support of the Us-led coalition in Afghanistan.

The Trump administration suspended further disbursement under CSF and other security-related payments, amounting to nearly $2 billion earlier this month, accusing Pakistan of not taking decisive actions against terrorists operating from its soil despite receiving $33 billion in aid, including CSF, since 2002.

Despite obvious reservations, Americans cleared bills Pakistanis presented for reimbursement for seemingly incredulous expenses, such as air and naval operations against terrorists, who had no known or then unknown air or naval capabilities — “farzee (fake) bills” as they are known in South Asia. The Pakistani civilian and military establishment reacted with equanimity, saying they don’t care and will not seek resumption of the US aid.

CSF payments were a “kind of legal bribery to Pakistan’s generals”, Coll writes in Directorate S: The CIA and Americas Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a sequel to his highly-acclaimed account of the CIA, and its secret wars in the region leading up to the September 2001 terrorist attacks.

Coll based his argument citing evidence of reimbursements billed by the Pakistanis, according to a pre-release review in The Atlantic. Publishers send advance copies for review to some publications. Hindustan Times has not read the book.

Pakistan has received $14.5 billion from the United States as CSF since 2002, a year after the US invaded Afghanistan to oust the Taliban regime that had given shelter to Osama bin Laden and operatives of al Qaeda.