ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- After the United States has spent more than $5 billion in a largely failed effort to bolster the Pakistani military campaign against militants from al-Qaida and the Taliban, some American officials now acknowledge that there were too few controls over how the money was spent, and that the strategy to improve the Pakistani military needs to be completely revamped.
In interviews in Islamabad and Washington, officials in the U.S. military and in the Bush administration said they believed that much of the American money was not making its way to front-line Pakistani units. Money has been diverted to help finance weapons systems designed to counter India, not al-Qaida or the Taliban, the officials said, adding that the United States has paid tens of millions of dollars in inflated Pakistani reimbursement claims for fuel, ammunition and other costs.
"I personally believe there is exaggeration and inflation," said a senior American military official who has reviewed the program, referring to Pakistani requests for reimbursement. "Then, I point back to the United States and say we didn't have to give them money this way."
Pakistani officials say they are incensed at what they see as American ingratitude for Pakistani counterterrorism efforts that have left about 1,000 Pakistani soldiers and police officers dead. They deny any overcharging has occurred.
The $5 billion was provided through a program known as Coalition Support Funds, which reimburses Pakistan for conducting military operations to fight terrorism. Under a separate program, Pakistan receives $300 million per year in traditional American military financing that pays for equipment and training.
Civilian opponents of President Pervez Musharraf say he used the reimbursements to prop up his government. One European diplomat in Islamabad said the United States should have been more cautious with its aid.
"I wonder if the Americans have not been taken for a ride," said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Lawmakers in Washington voted Thursday to put restrictions on the $300 million in military financing, and withheld $50 million of that money until Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice certifies that Islamabad is restoring democratic rights since Musharraf lifted a state of emergency on Dec. 16. The measure had little effect on the far larger Coalition Support Funds reimbursements.
