Islamabad using American aid for war against India: Obama

WASHINGTON (Agencies) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has said Pakistan is misusing US aid to prepare for war against India. In an interview to Fox News, Obama bluntly articulated what has been said discreetly in Bush administration audits: that US aid worth billions to Pakistan, ostensibly meant for the war on terror, has been used by Islamabad's military rulers to tone up for a possible confrontation against India on its eastern front. "We are providing them military aid without having enough strings attached. So they're using the military aid that we use - they're not, to Pakistan, they're preparing for a war against India," Obama said. Obama's remarks come at a time when the US Senate is considering a bill piloted by his running mate Joseph Biden to give Pakistan $ 15 billion in developmental aid over a period of a decade - again without strings. The $ 1.5 billion annual aid is meant solely for the social and developmental sector, Biden aides have said, while rejecting arguments that money is fungible and infusion into social spending without oversight over military expenditure defeats the idea of rolling back Pakistani's militarisation. Obama did not address the issue at any great length but suggested he would make sure US military aid to Pakistan needs to be targeted against terrorists, rather than India. Fox News: "So you're going to pull it out and let the fundamentalists take them over?" Obama: "No, no, no, no. What we say is, look, we're going to provide them with additional military support, targeted at terrorists, and we're going to help build their democracy and provide ..."

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