US seeks to assuage anger over aid package

Washington: President Barack Obama plans to sign a Bill providing Pakistan $7.5 billion (Dh27.53 million) in economic aid, after Congress issues a statement designed to placate Pakistanis' objections that conditions attached to the legislation violate their sovereignty, US and Pakistani officials said.

The joint House-Senate statement will emphasise mutual respect between the two countries, officials said, and "clarify" provisions in the Bill requiring administration reports to Congress on Pakistan's expenditures, its progress in combating Islamist insurgents and the extent of civilian control over the Pakistani military.

"Pakistan will not compromise on its sovereignty. I have put on the table our concerns," Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmoud Qureshi said after a meeting on Tuesday with Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry, who sponsored the Bill with the committee's ranking minority member, Sen Richard Lugar.

Qureshi, who hailed the aid package as a "strong signal" of US support on a visit to Washington just last week, was sent back from Islamabad on an emergency mission after Pakistan's military and political opposition leaders criticised the Bill as insulting and patronising. Pakistani officials have suggested that military and opposition objections reflect Pakistani political manoeuvring to undermine the government of President Asif Ali Zardari.

The US relationship with Pakistan is a critical component of Obama's evolving strategy on the Afghanistan war. The president was scheduled to hold his fifth closed-door meeting about Afghanistan and Pakistan with top national security aides yesterday.

"We are going through a very deliberative process," Obama said on Tuesday, adding he expected it to be completed "in the coming weeks."