The US President Barack Obama signed the Kerry Lugar Bill into law giving Pakistan 7.5 billion dollars. While India has announced its concern that Pakistan may misuse the money, the US administration points out the aid comes with many riders.
A little over 24-hours after Thursday's carnage, another terror strike in Peshawar targeted the Pakistani cantonment. The all too familiar car bomb went off in the afternoon, killing more than ten people and injuring many.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik admited that Pakistan's security forces remain unprepared for these kind of attacks. He said, "The kind of terrorism we are facing, our forces neither had the capacity nor the training to counter."
In Islamabad, the Pakistani Foreign Minister SM Qureshi was defended the Kerry Lugar Bill in his country's parliament. The bill gives Pakistan 7.5 billion dollars in non military aid for the next five years, money that will upgrade schools, fund training for police and support civil society.
But the Pakistani army doesn't like it because the money comes with many riders.
Experts in India say that there's little doubt that the powerful Pakistani army could divert the money for its own purposes.
It's not clear what oversight the US will exercise over the use of the money and exactly how. The larger concern of course remains that the Pak army will leverage its opposition to the bill by moving against its biggest backer President Zardari.
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