US suspends $800 million in military aid to Pakistan
11 Jul 2011
Washington: Tightening the screws further, the United States of America has said it intends to suspend $800 million, or more than one-third, of the $2 billion in annual aid it provides to Pakistan's military services.
US president Barack Obama's chief of staff, William Daley, confirmed the fact Sunday.
The move comes in the backdrop of a gradual deterioration in US-Pakistan military and diplomatic relations, particularly in the context of a commando raid by American special operations forces that resulted in the killing of al Qaeda chief, and wanted international fugitive, Osama bin Laden.
The raid shocked America as the fugitive was found to be living in relative comfort inside a Pakistani military garrison town.
Earlier, CIA operative, Raymond Davis, shot and killed two people in the provincial capital of Lahore, claiming a robbery attempt.
In the subsequent backlash of the Davis and bin Laden episodes, and in a bid to appease public sentiment, Pakistani authorities announced a series of punitive measures, such as asking the CIA to scale down operations inside Pakistan and vacating the Shamsi airbase from which the CIA operates its hugely successful drone operation that has virtually decimated the top rung of the Taliban and al Qaeda hierarchy inside the border regions of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan.