Kerry to move bill for tripling non-military aid to Pakistan

Chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry has said that he would soon be introducing a legislation in the US Congress to triple the non-military aid to Pakistan to avert an economic meltdown.

Speaking after the release of a report on Pakistan by the prestigious Atlantic Council at the Capitol Hill on Wednesday,
Kerry said it is time that the international community should come together to help Pakistan come out from its present
economic mess.

The report, released jointly by Senators Kerry and Chuck Hagel, asks for an additional USD4-5 billion of immediate financial aid for Pakistan to avert an economic meltdown.

If the US and its Atlantic partners do not provide Pakistan with this assistance, the country may be placed on a downward trajectory whose consequences will be dire, the report said.

He said he would soon be introducing a legislation in the US Congress to triple the non-military aid to Pakistan. However, this non-military aid has to be conditional and would be linked directly with Islamabad's efforts and success in its war against terrorism, he added.

Kerry also said Pakistan has become the "ground zero of terrorism and security threat to the United States".

The Senator said the war in Afghanistan is being lost in Pakistan and expressed his serious concerns over the Swat valley peace treaty with the Taliban terrorists.