SPY EYES

Despite serious differences over the Afghan conflict, Pakistan will continue to be among the top three recipients of American aid in the US fiscal year 2012 as well, which starts from Oct 1 of a calendar year.

A document released by the US State Department shows that in the budget requests for 2012, Afghanistan tops the list at $3,213.4 million. Israel ranks second, with all of the $3,075 million requested for foreign military financing (FMF).

Pakistan ranks third at $2,965 million, 80 per cent of which is for activities supported by the Economic Support Fund (ESF) and the Pakistan Counter-insurgency Capability Fund-OCO (PCCF).

If funding from the US defence budget was included, Pakistan would rank second for both FY2010 and 2012.

Pakistan received $4,462 million from the defence budget in FY2010, which came down to $2,444 million in FY2011, but increases slightly to $2,965 million in FY2012. Pakistan received a total of $22,087 million from the defence budget between FY2002 and 2010.

Almost 88 per cent of the US aid to South Central Asia in FY2012 is requested for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The State Department documents note that a combination of security assistance and economic aid designed to limit the appeal of extremist organisations has moved Pakistan up the list in recent years.