The United States has provided Pakistan with $4.3 billion in economic and security assistance to fight terrorism since 2002, apart from reimbursing it with $5.3 billion for 'expenses' incurred by the country in the war on terror, a senior Bush administration official has said.
"These funds have been used to help Pakistan prosecute the war on terror along the Pakistan-Afghan border," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard Boucher said.
"The security assistance has been used to purchase tactical radios, TOW missiles, Bell 412 and COBRA helicopters, and night-vision goggles," Boucher told a Sub Committee of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"In addition, we provide counter-insurgency training, improve counter-insurgency strike capability and train more effective Pakistani military leaders," Boucher said.
"In addition, we have provided $5.3 billion in Coalition Support Funds to reimburse Pakistan for expenses incurred in the War on Terror," he said.
The US has also started implementing a five-year, $750 million development strategy for Pakistan's frontier region that supports the country's nine-year programme for the area's sustainable development, the senior official said.
Boucher said the upcoming general election would be a 'significant step forward' for Pakistani democracy and a 'major accomplishment' for the people, even as he admitted that there would be 'problems' during the polls.
"Do we expect the election will be flawless? No. In any general election in a nation with 166 million people and a checkered history of democracy, there are going to be problems," he said.
