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US Senate panel reels back aid to Pak over terror links

WASHINGTON: A US Senate panel on Wednesday slapped partial sanctions on Pakistan on account of its support to terrorism even as American officials made the stunning charge that the ISI has been encouraging terror outfits to attack US targets. In a move reflecting Congressional anger at Pakistans dodgy role in using what Washington has come to regard as proxy terrorism, the Senate appropriations committee declined to specify amounts of US aid to Pakistan, leaving it to the discretion of the Obama administration to provide aid depending on Pakistans actions against terror groups. If the administration wants to provide zero, thatd be OK with us, Republican Senator Mark Kirk, one of the more vocal critics of Pakistan, said. The foreign operations appropriation bill for 2012 provides $161.4 million for the department of states Pakistan operations. It does not specify amounts for aid but provides $1 billion for the counter-insurgency capability fund (money reimbursed to Pakistan for its expenses) which is $100 million below Obamas request. The bill includes strengthened restrictions on aid by conditioning all funds to Pakistan on its cooperation against the Haqqani network, al-Qaida, and other terror outfits, the panel said. The panels decision to reel back aid and make it conditional came after several US officials made scathing public remarks about Pakistans continued use of terrorism to achieve its objectives in Afghanistan and elsewhere. The ISI specifically directed, or urged, the Haqqani network to carry out the September 13 attack on the US embassy and the Nato headquarters in Kabul, Reuters quoted two unnamed US officials as saying, recalling a similar ISI-sponsored attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul which killed an Indian diplomat and a military attache.

                                                                                                               
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