WASHINGTON, Dec 24: Pakistan has used much of the $5 billion it received from the United States for fighting terrorists to buy weapons to counter India, The New York Times reported on Monday.

The report said that more than $5 billion in US military aid to Pakistan had often failed to reach frontline units fighting Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Instead, much of the money was diverted to weapons systems designed to counter India.

Last month, a Washington think-tank, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, made a similar claim, urging Washington to make a more strategic use of the money it gives Pakistan.

The money comes from a programme known as Coalition Support Funds, which reimburses Islamabad for conducting military operations to fight terrorism.

Under a separate programme, Pakistan receives $300 million a year in traditional US military financing that pays for equipment and training.

The New York Times quoted unnamed officials in the US administration and military as saying that there were too few controls over the Coalition Support Funds.

The US State Department, however, has rejected the suggestion, saying that Pakistan is using the funds for what they were meant for: fighting terrorism.

Officials at the Pakistan Embassy in Washington say that since it is reimbursement, not assistance, “no other country but Pakistan should have control over it”.

The unidentified officials quoted in the NYT report also claimed that Pakistan had submitted exaggerated claims for reimbursement of fuel, ammunition and other costs to receive millions of dollars from the United States.

Other US officials called for completely revamping the strategy to improve the Pakistani military’s capability to fight insurgency.

Pakistani officials, interviewed by the NYT, however, denied accusations of overcharging. Instead, they criticised American ingratitude for Pakistani counter-terrorism efforts that had claimed the lives of a thousand Pakistani soldiers and police officers.

They blamed the US for refusing to sell the country the equipment they needed to fight terrorists, such as advance helicopters, reconnaissance aircraft, radios and night-vision devices.

“There have been many aspects of equipment that we are keen on getting,” Pakistan army spokesman Maj-Gen Waheed Arshad told the newspaper.

A US State Department spokesperson when asked to comment on the report, said: “We refer you to Assistant Secretary Richard Boucher’s statement on this issue.”

A State Department transcript, issued on Dec 21, quotes Mr Boucher as saying that the US military assistance given to Pakistan is strictly used for what it’s meant for.

“In terms of the use of the money that we’ve used for foreign military financing, this is very much part of the counter-terrorism effort.

“For the last couple years, it has been solely for counter-terrorism efforts, broadly defined,” he said.