Pak will need annual US 'certificate' of genuine war on terror efforts to qualify for aid

Washington, July 22(ANI): A United States congressional panel has sent a mixed signal to Pakistan by rejecting one move to restrict aid to the country, while supporting the other.

One of the bills taken up by the House Foreign Affairs Committee would bar security and civilian aid to Pakistan unless the Obama administration certified that Pakistan was making progress on fighting terrorism.

According to The Dawn, moved by the committee's chairperson Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Bill requires the US Secretary of State to submit an annual certificate to Congress that Pakistan is pursuing terrorists and helping investigate how Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden managed to hide for years inside the country.

The Bill also goes beyond terrorism and covers nuclear proliferation as well.

It "puts the government of Pakistan on notice that they will be held to account if they continue to refuse to cooperate with our efforts to eliminate the nuclear black market, destroy the remaining elements of Osama bin Laden's network, and vigorously pursue our counterterrorism objectives."

The Obama administration has opposed the moves saying that the aid was critical to building Pakistan's civilian institutions and to battling the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. (ANI)