Accounting Office (GAO) audit presented before a Congressional committee .
The GAO report spoke of auditors uncovering an array of dodgy costs, including millions “spent” on roads and bunkers that were never built. Islamabad also billed US $200 million for an air defence radar system, even though Qaida has no known aircraft. The GAO disclosures, which first surfaced last month, has led some US experts to conclude that Pakistan has used the money accruing from the war on terror to beef up its military for future confrontation against India.
A more detailed scrutiny of the GAO report now reveals wide range of questionable billing, including inflated expenses for meals and vehicle maintenance. Pakistan is the largest recipient of the so-called Coalition Support Funds that the Bush administration launched in 2001, receiving more than $5.5 billion of the nearly $7 billion distributed to 27 countries.
There was the predictable volley of questions and criticism when the matter came up on Tuesday before lawmakers tasked with oversight and government reform, even as their colleagues in other committees were busy forking out more money to Pakistan. “The more I learn about US Coalition Support Funds to Pakistan, the more I am troubled: First, in terms of waste, fraud, and abuse of a huge amount of US taxpayer funds; second, about the programme’s failure to achieve vital US security objectives; and third, about the programme’s incompatibility with a long-term strategic partnership between the US and Pakistan,” said John Tierney, a Massachusetts Democrat who chairs House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on national security. |
