Up to 70% of US aid to Pakistan 'misspent'

America's massive military aid package to Pakistan has come under scrutiny after allegations that as much as 70% of $5.4bn in assistance has been misspent.

Since 2002, the US has paid the operating costs of Pakistan's military operations in the tribal belt along the Afghan border, where Taliban and al-Qaida fighters are sheltering.

Pakistan provides over 100,000 troops and directs the fight; the US foots the bill for food, fuel, ammunition and maintenance. The cash payments — averaging $80m a month — have been a cornerstone of US support for President Pervez Musharraf.

But over the past 18 months, as militants seized vast swaths of the tribal belt and repelled a string of Pakistani offensives, the funding has come under the microscope.

American officials processing the payments at the US embassy in Islamabad have concluded that the Pakistani expense claims have been vastly inflated, two western military officials told the Guardian. Read more..
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/27/pakistan.usa


THIS SHOULD COME AS NO SURPRISE..REMEMBER THE MISSING MONEY IN IRAQ, THE LOST MONEY IN IRAQ? WHEN YOU CAN PRINT YOUR OWN MONEY AND SELL OFF YOUR DEBT TO OTHER COUNTRIES, YOU WOULD BE CARELESS TOO. MISSING MONEY...YEAH RIGHT. DRUG MONEY MISSING TOO?