Global Security Newswire

U.S. President Barack Obama has urged lawmakers to authorize security assistance aimed at countering militant aggression in nuclear-armed Pakistan, the London Guardian reported yesterday (see GSN, May 5).

Democrats in the House of Representatives this week introduced a $930 million aid package, an amount roughly twice the size of Obama's request, which would provide $400 million for counterinsurgency training to Pakistani troops. In addition, more U.S. intelligence agents would also carry out operations in Pakistan.

Obama has asked a somewhat skeptical Congress to allocate billions of dollars in assistance to Pakistan over five years.

"The president feels obligated to give it a shot, and we'll help him give it a shot for a year. At the end of the year, I want to have a hard-nosed, realistic evaluation based on the performance standards we're talking about," Representative David Obey (D-Wis.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, told Politico.

Performance metrics could reflect Islamabad's success in staving off Taliban and al-Qaeda aggression and in regaining control over territory within the nation (Ewen MacAskill, London Guardian, May 5).

At talks today in Washington, Obama administration officials plan to seek guarantees from Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari that his country's nuclear weapons are safe, the Associated Press reported.

Pakistan is not a "failed state," but the country is dealing with major security threats it admits could affect nuclear security, Richard Holbrooke, the State Department's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, said during a hearing on Capitol Hill.

The United States must "put the most heavy possible pressure on our friends in Pakistan to join us in the fight against the Taliban and its allies," Holbrooke said.

Washington has ruled out any possibility of placing U.S. combat troops within Pakistani borders, an option adamantly opposed by Islamabad, according to high-level administration officials (Matthew Lee, Associated Press/New York Times, May 6).

Speaking to CNN, Zardari played down concerns that militants could obtain any of his country's nuclear weapons: "We have a 700,000 (person) army -- how could they take over?"

Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is "definitely safe," he added. "First of all, they are in safe hands. There is a command-and-control system under the president of Pakistan" (CNN, May 6).