American Aid to Pakistan Counterproductive

Pakistan’s recent offensive against the Taliban and Al Qaeda along the border with Afghanistan has produced results and demonstrated Pakistan’s capability to confront Islamic terrorists and win.

But while Pakistan is working hard to eradicate terrorists that pose a threat to its people and infrastructure it has continued to support Islamists who carry out attacks against India from bases within Pakistan.

Earlier this month, Pakistan released Hafiz Muhammad Saeed who had been under house arrest since December for his alleged role in planning the Mumbai attacks. Saeed is a well-known terrorist and the leader and founder of the Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba which was created with the help of the Pakistani military in the 1980s.

Since its inception, Lashkar has been a force for destabilization along the Indian-Pakistan border carrying out a succession of attacks against Indian civilian and military targets in Kashmir. Lashkar is also the main suspect in the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 173 were killed and was implicated in the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament.

Today, Saeed is the head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a charity that fronts for Lashkar and was placed on an international terrorist list following the Mumbai attacks. The Pakistani President’s office justified Saeed’s release saying, “Pakistan today has an independent judiciary, and the independent judiciary has a right to make a ruling in accordance with the law of the land.”

Using the judiciary’s independence as cover for the release of an active terrorist is disgusting. Pakistan has used such excuses for far too long and its time that the United States holds them accountable for their support of Islamic militants.

A bill recently passed the House giving Pakistan $1.5 billion in aid as well as an additional $400 million to support counterinsurgency efforts but if Pakistan continues to allow men like Saeed and their terrorist organizations to operate in Pakistani territory then such aid should be withheld.

Every penny spent by the United States to strengthen the Pakistani military strengthens their rapidly increasing nuclear program as well as their ability to support Islamic terrorists. But neither Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal nor its support for anti-Indian terrorists is in the national interest of the United States.

Pakistan should immediately move to eradicate the terrorist groups operating along the border with India and provide the United States with a full account of how it spends the military and economic aid we send its way.

If the Pakistani government fails to take these steps, the U.S. Congress should immediately revoke all aid to Pakistan. Furthermore, the United States should direct counterinsurgency aid to India if Pakistan proves unable to combat Islamic terrorists operating within its border.

After all, India shares American goals and values in a way that Pakistan never will. India is a secular democracy facing daily threats from Islamic terrorists. Conversely, Pakistan is at best a democratic theocracy with strong ties to the very Islamic terrorists we are at war with.

American aid to Pakistan is a relic of the Cold War and should be phased out in favor of a closer relationship with India. At least we know that the money and equipment we give to India won’t end up in the hands of Muslim extremists.