U.S. aid to Pakistan

WASHINGTON: The United States is rushing emergency aid to Pakistan an initial $5 million to help people uprooted by the fighting against extremists, according to the State Department.

The State Department said Tuesday the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan and officials of the U.S. Agency for International Development were evaluating the needs of civilians fleeing the Swat valley and surrounding regions in northwest Pakistan.
On Capitol Hill, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, Sen. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, praised the new military offensive by the Pakistan military.
"In recent days we have seen encouraging signs that Pakistan's army is finally taking the fight to enemy, but much remains to be done," Kerry said in his opening to a hearing on Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Kerry and the senior Republican on the committee, Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, have introduced legislation to triple non-military U.S. aid to Pakistan to $1.5 billion a year, for five years.

The Obama administration envoy on Pakistan and Afghanistan policy, long-time diplomat Richard Holbrooke, spoke to the Senate committee Tuesday about what the U.S. has at stake in Pakistan. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, said Congress should slow down consideration of new aid to Pakistan. "Ultimately the true decision makers are the people and leaders of Pakistan."
We are losing that war," Holbrooke told the committee.