ISLAMABAD: The US Congress has approved a massive defence spending bill for 2015, including a provision that extends the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) for Pakistan for
a year.
The provision is part of an attached bill known as ‘S. 2410’ and includes some new conditions on releasing CSF reimbursements to Pakistan.
The final approval for the $584.2bn bill came on Friday evening, when the US Senate also approved it.
The House of Representatives has already passed the bill, which now goes to the White House for President Barack Obama’s signature.
The bill, now known as the National Defence Authorisation Act, 2015, includes $63.7bn in overseas contingency operations, which was previously called the US-led war against terror. Support to countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq come from this provision.
Despite opposition from President Obama, the bill renewed a ban on transferring detainees from the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the mainland. The provision that concerns Pakistan, however, is included in S. 2410, which was attached to the original bill by the US Senate. Besides other issues, S.2410 deals directly with US efforts to counter terrorism and supervises the CSF, which reimburses allied nations for fighting terrorists.
The provision clarifies that Pakistan cannot receive more than a billion dollars in a year from this fund. Internews
