Top US lawmakers reject Pakistan aid cuts over Davis issue

WASHINGTON: Top US lawmakers on Thursday rejected talk of cutting aid to Pakistan as leverage to win the release of a US national imprisoned for allegedly shooting dead two Pakistani men.
And US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, just back from a visit to Pakistan to discuss the fate of Raymond Davis, suggested a solution to the bitter diplomatic dispute over his fate come come within days.
“We just need to work through the process the way we are in the next days, and hopefully we get to a better place,” Kerry said in what amounted to a plea for patience from increasingly angry colleagues.
Asked whether his trip yielded progress towards a way out of the ugly diplomatic feud, Kerry replied “I think so,” but brushed off questions about whether Davis might be sent to the United States for trial.
“I don’t want to get into of the details of what may or may not occur, but hopefully we get a better resolution. And I just think we need to kind of let the process work,” said the Democratic senator.

Pakistan gets $633m US anti-terror aid

Arab News

ISLAMABAD: Washington transferred more than $600 million to the Pakistani government this week to pay for its efforts in the fight against violent extremists, the US Embassy said.

The $633 million payment under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) program came Wednesday, amid reports that top US military commanders in Afghanistan were pushing to expand special forces ground raids across the border into Pakistan's tribal areas.

"The Coalition Support Fund is designed to reimburse the government of Pakistan for expenses incurred fighting violent extremist groups," the embassy said in a statement.

It added that the payment covered the first six months of this year and Pakistan had now received "approximately 8.76 billion dollars" since 2001 under the scheme.

The CSF process reimburses 27 nations, including Pakistan, for logistical, military and other support provided to Washington's overseas military operations.

Pakistan has been fighting militants on its border with Afghanistan for years. On Friday some 150 extremists attacked five security posts in an unusually large and coordinated assault, sparking hours of fighting that killed 11 soldiers and 24 insurgents, officials said.

The top government official in Mohmand, Amjad Ali Khan, said 12 soldiers were wounded in the fighting.

The troops called in helicopter gunships to help push back the militants, said Maj. Fazl Ur Rehman, a spokesman for the Frontier Corps security force. The fighting ended by morning.

The Pakistan Army says 2,500 of its soldiers have been killed by militants in the tribal areas since 2001.