Members of Congress — on both sides of the aisle — are currently debating whether or not to cut off aid to Pakistan as doubts are raised about whether Pakistani officials knew about Osama bin Laden's whereabouts, despite denials. The leader of al-Qaida was killed on May 1 in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where he had been holed up for years.
"Before we send another dime, we need to know whether Pakistan truly stands with us in the fight against terrorism," said Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.). "Until Congress and the American public are assured that the Pakistani government is not shielding terrorists, financial aid to Pakistan should be suspended."
In 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the Enhanced Partnership With Pakistan Act, which authorized $1.5 billion in annual aid to Pakistan for the next four years. Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S., told ABC's This Week that Pakistan is working on convincing the U.S. that we should keep sending money. "Complaining and carping about Pakistan has been around for as long as the Pakistani and U.S. alliance has been around," said Haqqani, arguing that the two countries are nevertheless "allies and partners who need each other."
One does have to question how the country's leaders can claim they had no idea that bin Laden was hiding out there for years. However, the U.S. government should wait until it gets solid proof before it makes a decision about this.
Read more at Huffington Post.
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