Pakistan not to get a blank cheque from the US, says Obama

June 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US House of Representatives has approved a bill to provide Pakistan $1.5 billion annually in aid till 2013, a media report said Friday. The House Thursday voted 238-183 to triple the US annual aid to Pakistan.

June 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US House of Representatives has approved a bill authorizing economic and military aid to Pakistan. The bill will have certain benchmarks, but Senators are still undecided over what and how many yardsticks would be attached to it.

May 13th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Questioning the credibility of Pakistani leaders, two senators have strongly opposed the Obama Administration's plans to hand out 497 million dollars in emergency aid to Pakistan. Tennessee Republican Senator Bob Corker said, "It will be a monumental mistake" if the administration sent aid to Pakistan without proper congressional oversight.

May 5th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Two influential US senators have introduced a bill to triple American aid to Pakistan to $1.5 billion annually for five years, with some exacting conditions but stripped of references to India to make it more palatable to Islamabad. Introduced Monday on the eve of President Asif Ali Zardari's visit to Washington, the 'Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009' incorporates exacting conditions for aid in keeping with President Barack Obama's promise that there would be no 'blank cheque' for Pakistan.

April 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The United States has incorporated new conditions for Pakistan that it would not lend support to any group or person conspiring against India, before the Obama Administration gives a green signal to the 1.5 billion dollars assistance to it for the next five years. The Pakistan aid bill named the Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement or the PEACE Act of 2009, was tabled in the US House of Representatives on April 2.

April 3rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has rejected Washington's growing concerns about how Islamabad would use the increased US aid. "The Obama administration should not worry about the proper use of its aid," the Daily Times quoted Gilani, as saying.

April 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - Pakistan could get $2.8 billion in military aid from the US in addition to the proposed $7.5 billion civilian aid package spread over five years, a defence official has been quoted as saying. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the FOX News channel that the additional money would be spent on 'equipping, training, and building infrastructure directly related to counter insurgency operations'.

March 31st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani Tuesday said US President Barack Obama was being 'unfair' in comparing Pakistan with Afghanistan in the war against terror. 'Comparing Pakistan with Afghanistan would be unfair,' the official APP news agency quoted him as saying when asked to comment on Obama's new AfPak policy unveiled last week.

March 29th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has decided to convey its concerns through diplomatic channels over certain aspects of the new policy for the region announced by President Barack Obama. "We will speak to them (the United States) on issues of concern in subsequent diplomatic negotiations," the Dawn quoted Babar, as saying.

March 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama Friday announced plans to provide Pakistan $1.5 billion non-military aid annually for the next five years, linked to Islamabad taking action to root out 'violent extremists'. 'After years of mixed results, we will not provide a blank cheque,' he said, announcing a new strategy for the region.

March 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Warning that Al Qaeda was planning attacks on the US from its safe haven in Pakistan, President Barack Obama Friday unveiled a new strategy to destroy the terrorist outfit. 'Multiple intelligence estimates have warned that Al Qaeda is actively planning attacks on the US homeland from its safe haven in Pakistan,' he said announcing the strategy for Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan, where the situation is getting 'increasingly perilous'.

March 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday said that Pakistan's Afghan border regions had turned into "the most dangerous place in the world.

March 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The new policy of Afghanistan and Pakistan may well see a surge in US troops in the region to facilitate the 'war on terror', but President Barack Obama has also clarified that Pakistan would be made accountable for all the financial aid it receives from now on. "The era of the blank cheque is over," Obama told Congressional leaders at a meeting here.

March 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday said Al-Qaeda is 'actively planning' attacks on US from safe havens in Pakistan.

February 8th, 2009 LONDON - Pakistan is the one country that really 'scares' Barack Obama, according to the US President's aides, a newspaper reported Monday. The Guardian said in a report from Islamabad that Pakistan - 'a nuclear-armed country hurtling towards chaos' - may turn out to be the biggest foreign policy challenge for the Obama administration.