WASHINGTON The US defence budget, approved by Congress on Saturday, includes hundreds of millions of dollars for Pakistan.
The $636.3 billion package, approved by the US Senate by an 88-10 margin, includes two items that will benefit Pakistan the Pakistan Counter-insurgency Capability Fund and the Coalition Support Fund.
Under the PCCF, Pakistan will receive a total of $700 million. The CSF applies to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Jordan and sometimes Egypt. Pakistan has an outstanding bill of between $1.7 billion and $1.8 billion against this fund.
Pakistani authorities who deal with this process believe that after adjustments, Pakistan should be able to get a little more than a billion dollars from the CSF.
The approval, however, will come after the resolution of the visa dispute. The US State Department said last week that Pakistan had withheld visas for hundreds of US officials and contractors, including some accountants associated with the CSF.
Pakistani diplomats in Washington told Dawn that they hoped the dispute would soon be resolved.
Under the CSF, the United States reimburses Pakistan for fighting militants along the Pak-Afghan border.
Pakistans claims are scrutinized by US accountants in Islamabad and then sent to the Pentagon for further approval.
Meanwhile, the US Congress on Saturday sent US President Barack Obama a massive annual military spending bill for signing that funds current operations in Afghanistan and pays for the troop withdrawal from Iraq.
In a rare weekend vote, the Senate approved the $636.3 billion package by an 88-10 margin. The bill had cleared the House of Representatives 395-34 on Wednesday.
President Obama is expected to send Congress an emergency spending measure of at least $30 billion early next year to pay for his recently announced decision to send 30,000 more US troops to Afghanistan.
The bill includes $101.1 billion for operations and maintenance and military personnel requirements in Iraq and Afghanistan and to carry out the planned withdrawal of all US combat forces from Iraq by August 2010.
The package also funds the purchase of 6,600 new Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) armoured vehicles configured to better resist improvised explosive devices — roadside bombs used to deadly effect by insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The bill includes $80 million to acquire more unmanned 'Predator' drones, a key tool in the US air war in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The spending bill upholds Mr Obamas ban on torture of detainees in US custody, continues a general provision forbidding the establishment of permanent bases in Iraq or Afghanistan, and provides no funds to close the prison for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay.
