Next US leader must revamp Pak policy

The group endorses a bipartisan US aid plan introduced in July by Democratic Sen Joe Biden and Republican Sen Richard Lugar, which calls for $1.5 billion per year in non-military spending to support economic development in Pakistan.

‘Such assistance, however, must be performance-based, and must be accompanied by rigorous oversight and accountability’, said the report.

It also recommends favourable US market access for Pakistani textiles and for products produced in tribal regions on the Afghan-Pakistan border.

On the economic front, the policy report calls for enhancing ‘access of Pakistani textiles to the US market on favoured terms, starting with passage of the long-awaited Reconstruction Opportunity Zone legislation, and consider increasing the number of product lines included in that legislation’.

The majority of US economic aid, it pleads, should focus on projects in basic education, health care, water resource management, law enforcement, and justice programmes, with the goal of developing state capacity to effectively deliver these services to the population.

The US military assistance should focus on providing systems and training that enhance Pakistan’s counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency capabilities, it proposes.

The group included Co-Chairs Kara L. Bue, Armitage International, L.C Lisa Curtis, The Heritage Foundation and members Walter Andersen, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Stephen P. Cohen, The Brookings Institution, Xenia Dormandy, Harvard University, C. Christine Fair John A. Gastright, Jr., DynCorp International, Robert M. Hathaway, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Dennis Kux, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Daniel Markey, Council on Foreign Relations, Polly Nayak, Independent Consultant, J Alexander Thier, United States Institute of Peace,Marvin G. Weinbaum, The Middle East Institute and Rapporteur Nicholas Hamisevicz, The Heritage Foundation.