Even as a key Congress Committee deleted direct reference to India while passing a law on US aid to Pakistan keeping in mind Islamabad's sensitivities, the bill imposes tough conditions on the Pakistani army and spy agencies and considers LeT, JeM and al-Qaeda as part of the same global terrorist network. By doing so, US lawmakers led by Congressman Howard Berman who introduced the bill, ignored the concerns raised by the Obama Administration with regard to these stringent conditions, as reflected in a letter written by Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, to Congressional leaders last month. The Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement (PEACE) Act, passed by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs of which Berman is the Chairman, proposes $9.1 billion of civil and military assistance to Pakistan from 2010 to 2013 - almost double of the aid to Islamabad as compared to the previous Bush Administration. The bill was passed on May 20 after replacing the word India with "neighbouring countries" with regard to Pakistan not allowing its soil to be used to launch terror attacks. Given its past experience, where the money given to it was used by Pakistan to build up its army against India, the PEACE Act mandates that at least 75 per cent of the security assistance fund would be used by Islamabad only for counter- insurgency and counter-terrorist operations. Much to the discomfort of Islamabad, it rules that Pakistan cannot buy F-16s through these funds as has happened during the Bush era. The House Committee on Foreign Affairs said that since 2001, Pakistan has received massive amounts of security assistance, primarily in the form of Coalition Support Funds (CSF) and Foreign Military Financing (FMF). It is the Committee's view that such funds have not created the political will or the capabilities within Pakistan's security forces to effectively conduct counter-insurgency operations. Rather, FMF has been used primarily to facilitate the purchase of F-16 aircraft in preparation for conventional military operations. However, the Committee still believes the FMF programme remains a viable mechanism to build the capacity of Pakistan's security forces to conduct counter-insurgency and should be the principal source of US security assistance. As such the PEACE Act restricts the use of FMF for the purchase of, or upgrade to, F-16 fighter aircraft or related munitions. This restriction stems from the Committee's belief that F-16 fighter aircraft are not effective counter- insurgency tools. The Act says one of the prime objectives of the US through this bill is "to establish a counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism strategy to prevent any territory of Pakistan from being used as a base or conduit for terrorist attacks in Pakistan, or elsewhere, and ensure that madrasas in Pakistan are not used to incite terrorism." Under this Act, the objective of the US is to ensure access of United States investigators to individuals suspected of engaging in worldwide proliferation of nuclear materials, as necessary, and restricts such individuals from travel or any other activity that could result in further proliferation. According to it, the US also needs to help Pakistan meet its commitment of not backing any person or group that conducts violence, sabotage or other activities meant to instill fear or terror in Pakistan's neighbours. The purpose of security assistance, the Act says is to work with Pakistan to protect and secure its borders and prevent any Pakistani territory from being used as a base or conduit for terror attacks in Pakistan, or elsewhere.