July 28, 2009: The U.S. Congress, fed up with how Pakistan has diverted so much of the $7 billion of American military aid to building up its forces facing India, has added strings to all future military aid. Pakistan has been receiving nearly a billion dollars a year in military aid for the last eight years, with the understanding that most of it would go to defeating the Taliban and al Qaeda. Until recently, this was not the case. While Pakistan is vigorously going after the Taliban and al Qaeda now (mainly because both groups have declared war on Pakistan), in the past the Pakistani government has eventually backed off efforts to destroy the Taliban. And even al Qaeda, which is seen as a foreign organization within Pakistan, has made alliances with Pakistani Islamic terrorists who specialize in attacking India (which is very popular inside Pakistan) to protect themselves. So, to help maintain Pakistani resolve in the fight against Islamic terrorism, the U.S. now has a law that mandates turning off the military aid if the U.S. Secretaries of State and Defense cannot certify that the money is being spent on counter-terrorism, rather than preparations for another war with India.
