ISLAMABAD — The U.S. Senate approved legislation Thursday to triple civilian financial aid to Pakistan to $7.5 billion over five years, underscoring the country’s vital role in the war in Afghanistan and the broader fight against international terrorism.
The legislation had been held up for months amid partisan wrangling, and the breakthrough came as the Friends of Democratic Pakistan assistance forum met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
As the U.S.-led campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan falters, cooperation from neighboring Pakistan is crucial because Pakistan is the headquarters, a refuge and a source of financing and other support for al-Qaeda, for Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and for other Afghan insurgent groups.
“It is the (extremist) mindset we’re fighting. Afghan Taliban, Pakistan Taliban or al-Qaeda, wherever they are. We want to tell them . . . that we will not tolerate it,” Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said Thursday in New York.
