By HUMA KHAN and MATTHEW JAFFE
May 5, 2011
In the wake of the U.S.-led operation that killed Osama bin Laden, billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to Pakistan are in jeopardy as relations between the two countries turn sour.
Pakistan is coming under fire for not being able to spot bin Laden, who, instead of hiding in the remote caves of the northwest tribal areas as originally thought, was in fact living in an affluent neighborhood in Abbottabad, right near the Pakistani military academy.
U.S. administration officials say they didn't inform their Pakistani counterparts of the operation to hunt down and kill bin Laden until it was all but over, for fear that the information could be leaked into the wrong hands.
Now, a growing chorus of lawmakers on Capitol Hill are calling for the administration to reassess the billions in aid it provides to Pakistan, given how unhelpful they say the Pakistani government was.
From 2002 to 2010, the United States gave $13.3 billion in security-related aid to Pakistan, and $6 billion for economic assistance. More than $3 billion were requested for 2011.
Pakistani protesters burn representation of a U.S. flag during a rally to condemn the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, in Multan, Pakistan on May 4, 2011. Osama Bin Laden's Compound Secrets Watch Video
Osama Bin Laden Hiding Place: Did Pakistan Know? Watch Video
Pakistan Outraged Over Bin Laden's Death Watch Video
For the 2012 fiscal year, the Obama administration has requested about $3 billion in foreign aid for Pakistan, and an additional $2.3 billion to help the country's counterterrorism efforts.
Pakistan first started receiving substantial aid from the United States in the 1980s, during the Cold War, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. It ballooned again following the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and the U.S. attack on the Taliban regime.
The money hasn't always been received with pomp, however. A 2009 non-military aid package that would give Pakistan $1.5 billion annually for five years came under heavy criticism in Pakistan, not just for the strings that were attached to it but because of the increase in drone attacks by the United States in the nation's tribal areas.
U.S.-Pakistan relations have become increasingly shaky in recent years amid questions about where the money is going and whether Pakistan is cooperating as much as it should. But experts say the relationship this week is likely the worst it's been since Sept. 11, 2001.
Now, bin Laden's death has spurred a debate on Capitol Hill about whether the United States can and should continue the funding.
Numerous top lawmakers in Congress have voiced suspicions about what -- if anything -- Pakistani officials knew about bin Laden's presence there. In the past two days, CIA chief Leon Panetta twice told members of Congress in classified briefings that Pakistan was either "knowledgeable or incompetent," according to lawmakers who attended the closed-door sessions.
"From an intelligence point of view, we would want to know more about why this wasn't discovered by the Pakistani authorities," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
One senator -- New Jersey Democrat Frank Lautenberg -- went so far as to say that U.S. aid to Pakistan should be suspended until Congress receives answers about how bin Laden went undetected by authorities.
But cutting off financial aid to Pakistan would not come without serious risks. Experts say it could have serious implications on U.S. security and the terror threat.
"I think at the moment there's still a pretty high level of co-dependence between United States and Pakistan," said Shuja Nawaz, director of the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council, who testified on Capitol Hill Tuesday. Breaking relations "has very serious repercussions, not only for the bilateral relationship, but for what's happening in the region."
"A sudden imposition of sanctions or a break in the relationship will have pretty severe and lasting consequences," he said. "It will also feed the narrative of certain extremist groups within Pakistan, and perhaps even among the moderates, that the U.S. is only in this for the short run."
Several U.S. lawmakers have expressed similar concerns, and caution against taking any actions until the issue of bin Laden's residency becomes clearer.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/osama-bi … d=13530144
I think US should stop helping people who openly hate them. Something is too crazy in there. They should invest into education and well-being of their own country. They(Pakistan) closed their eyes on a monster, International criminal, terrorist, pretending they don't know anything, or what? Let's give them more money, let's help to breed another monster who hates western world to the point of killing everybody. Any sense in that?
"If you wan't us, THEN, pay us." They don't want you. You apparently want them. You are there. They are not here.
It is unbelievable that we send billions of dollars to aid a country that harbors terrorists, and openly burns our flag.
Time to cut them loose!
by Tito Alabi 13 years ago
Do you believe that Osama bin Laden's death signifies the end of terrorism in America?Osama has been grooming all kinds of group over the decade, now that he's gone, what lies ahead for America? Will another group evolve sharing Obama's believe?
by Lady_E 13 years ago
Why does Osama Bin Laden hate America so much?It was announced on the news 24 Jan, that America should expect more attacks. Message from Obama. (I hope it doesn't happen) Why so much hatred?
by thirdmillenium 15 years ago
Time and again Pakistan has been insisting that Laden is in all probability dead. The latest is the Pak PM's assertion in Washington yesterday. Do you believe Pakistan?
by Vizey 14 years ago
Shall Osama Bin Laden ever be caught.? Is he alive or dead?
by Right Black 13 years ago
Do you think it is moral for Americans to celebrate the death of Osama Bin Laden?
by prettydarkhorse 13 years ago
I received this twitter news - News media rumor & speculation is that Osama bin Laden is dead!
Copyright © 2025 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2025 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |