WASHINGTON, July 16: White House hopeful Barack Obama supports a bill which seeks to triple US aid to Pakistan to $15 billion over a period of 10 years.

In a nationally televised speech on Tuesday evening, Mr Obama said he was “co-sponsoring a bill with (senators) Joe Biden and Richard Lugar to triple non-military aid to the Pakistani people and to sustain it for a decade.”

The bill authorises $7.5 billion of non-military over the next 5 years or $1.5 billion annually. It advocates an additional $7.5 billion over the subsequent 5 years.

Mr Obama said the bill would also ensure that the US military assistance to Pakistan is used to take the fight to the Taliban and Al Qaeda and not for other purposes.

The conditions on military assistance incorporate longstanding US demands for increased Pakistani cooperation against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and for the military to refrain from interference in the political or judicial processes of Pakistan.

In an interview to CNN on Tuesday evening, Mr Obama said he is seeking to “further our relationship with Pakistan” and his decision to co-sponsor the aid bill aims at achieving this target.

But he also said he would send US troops into the tribal areas to catch Osama bin Laden. “We want to capture or kill him,” he added.

Like Mr Obama, Republican candidate John McCain also wants to send more US troops to Afghanistan — but they differed over the details and over how they would pursue terrorists operating next door in Pakistan.

Mr Obama said the US must apply new pressure on Pakistan to act on terrorist activity within its borders. He said that the US must make clear that it is prepared to take out high-level terrorist targets in Pakistan if the Pakistani government does nothing.

Mr McCain said that’s the wrong approach.

Mr McCain said that Senator Obama’s talking of unilateral military action in Pakistan “has made it harder for the people whose support we need most.” The Arizona Senator assured the gathering that he will not bluster, and will not make idle threats.Mr McCain said that Pakistan must be a part of the American regional strategy which emphasises convincing the country that the war on terror is as much as in its favour as it is in that of the United States.

“A special focus of our regional strategy must be Pakistan. As you know the political situation in Pakistan is very unsettled. And terrorists today enjoy sanctuary. This must end,” Senator McCain said at a campaign speech in New Mexico.

He emphasised on strengthening local tribes in the border areas who are willing to fight the foreign terrorists there.

“That’s the same strategy that we use successfully in Anbar and elsewhere in Iraq. We must convince the Pakistanis that this is their war as much as it is ours. And we must empower the new civilian government of Pakistan to defeat radicalism with greater support for development, health, and education,” he added.