WASHINGTON: The US Senator, John McCain said Sunday the billions of
US aid to Pakistan must come with strings attached, Fox TV reported.
The
top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which helps
tooversee that money, says Pakistan should show it’s helping to "prevent
the needless deaths of young Americans."
McCain’s comment on
CNN’s "State of the Union" shows the acute frustration in Congress
because of alleged ties between Pakistan’s intelligence outfit and
anti-U.S. insurgents.
US-Pakistan relations have become even
more strained after NATO air strikes allegedly killed 24 Pakistani
troops along the Afghanistan border. Pakistan retaliated by shutting
down U.S. supply lines and forcing the CIA to withdrawal its drones from
Shamsi air base, Fox reported.
The Arizona lawmaker said the U.S. should "explore all alternatives," although he did not provide specifics.
Senator
McCain, alleged hat Pakistani security agencies continues to support an
Afghan militant group that kills Americans, adding that Pakistani
forces in the past have fired across the poorly marked Afghan border.
"This
is a fog of war situation. Investigation is going on," McCain said,
referring to the NATO raids on two Pakistani border posts November 26
which killed 24 soldiers.
"But also the fact is that the ISI,
the intelligence arm of the Pakistani army, is still supporting the
Haqqani network which is killing Americans. That is unacceptable," he
said.
He said materials in roadside bombs that have killed US
forces in neighbouring Afghanistan have been traced to two fertilizer
factories in Pakistan.
Since the air strikes, a furious Pakistan
has cut off the movement of supplies to US forces through Pakistan and
ordered the closure of US drone operations at a Pakistani air base.
Asked
how the United States should proceed, McCain said a complete break with
Pakistan had been tried in the past for a ten year period and it did
not work.
"But we have to address it in a realistic fashion and
aid has to be gauged on the degree of cooperation that they are showing
us in helping us prevent the needless deaths of young Americans," he
said.
"So I would gauge our aid, particularly military aid --
and we’ve given many billions, as you know -- directly related to the
degree of cooperation they show us, and we have to explore all
alternatives."
On domestic issues Sen. McCain said that his
home state of Arizona could be won by President Barack Obama in the 2012
presidential election.
The 2008 GOP presidential nominee said
that Arizona and other southwest states “can be up for grabs” due to the
growing Hispanic vote.
McCain won Arizona in 2008 by taking 54%
of the vote to 45% for Obama. Next year, he said, the state’s voters
could lean the other way.
“The demographics are clear,” McCain
said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “The Hispanic vote will be a major
factor in national elections.”
Addressing the major issue of
immigration, McCain admitted his party has some work to do, but added
that Obama also faces challenges.
The Republican presidential
candidates are divided over how to deal with more than 10 million
immigrants who came to the country illegally and now are entrenched in
U.S. society, many with families, jobs and roles in their communities.
Former
House Speaker Newt Gingrich has called for a system of review boards to
determine whether individuals could remain in the country or be forced
to leave, a position characterized by conservative competitors such as
Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann as offering amnesty for lawbreakers.
“I
think that the Republican Party has to discuss this issue in as humane a
way as possible,” McCain said. At the same time, he noted that “the
enthusiasm of Hispanics for President Obama is dramatically less than it
was in 2008 because he has not fulfilled his campaign promises either,
so I view the Hispanic vote is up for grabs.”
McCain argued most
Hispanic voters agree that “we need so secure our borders, if for drugs
alone,” but added that “we need to treat people humanely…people who are
here, who have been here a long time.”
But, he said, “The fact
is, we don’t need to trigger another flood of illegal aliens by
believing if they can get across our border they would therefore be home
free.”
“We have to have empathy, we have to have concern, we have to have a plan,” McCain stated. Online
