ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has urged the United States to remove conditions placed in the Defence Authorisation Bill, and said that these would create difficulties for the joint anti-terrorism efforts.
 
‘Recently placed conditions on Coalition Support Fund reimbursements and the Pakistan Counter-Insurgency Capability Fund created difficulties in the joint counter-terrorism operations,’ President Zardari told a US congressional delegation led by Jane Harman, who heads the homeland security subcommittee on intelligence and terrorism risk assessment, on Tuesday.

According to presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar, Mr Zardari stressed the need for early reimbursement of $1.6 billion arrears in Coalition Support Fund.

The president said the democratic government had provided political ownership to the war against militancy which was not there during the dictatorial rule. He said political ownership was critical for wining the war.

The president also said that it would be more helpful if the drone technology was given to Pakistan, instead of the drones being employed by others to take out high-value targets.

The president told the delegation that Pakistan and the US needed to take a holistic view of their relations.

He said democratic stability in Pakistan was contingent upon advancement of the government’s development agenda for which US support was critical.

‘Fighting militancy on a long-term basis needs concrete steps to alleviate poverty and empower people. This is the reason that the US and international support to Pakistan’s economic development is critical.’

He said the issue of economic development could best be addressed through trade rather than aid.