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 U.S. assistance and other payments to Pakistan have totaled $9.6 billion in the six budget years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, according to the State Department.
The largest payout each year is for what the Bush administration calls "reimbursements" for Pakistan's help in the global war on terrorism. Under that program, Pakistan submits claims
-- such as its costs for providing observations posts along the Afghan border or its costs for taking part in joint operations with the U.S. against al-Qaida.
The reimbursements amount to some $80 million a month, said Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman
-- or nearly $1 billion a year.
On top of those payments, the U.S. also gives Pakistan direct aid for humanitarian programs, economic development, military needs and so on
-- well over $700 million in each of the last two years.
Pakistan receives military equipment under the assistance programs, as well as by buying some, such as the 36 F-16 aircraft it is purchasing for up to $3 billion.
"This request will maintain Pakistan's support in the global war on terrorism and efforts to build peaceful and positive relations with its neighbors, India and Afghanistan," the administration said in documents justifying the budget requests.
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 Following is a sampling of how the State Department proposes to spend $785 million on Pakistan in fiscal year 2008:
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$342 million for efforts to counter extremists, narcotics trafficking, weapons proliferation and other security issues.
Money from this group will be used to help modernize Pakistan's military, provide training, buy military equipment and help maintain previously purchased U.S. military equipment.
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$249 million for economic growth. That includes developing infrastructure for transport, power, irrigation and vocational training.
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$50 in humanitarian assistance, including to rebuild hospitals and schools damaged or destroyed in the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan's northwest.
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$103 million for health, education and water and sanitation. That includes scholarship programs to help the disadvantaged get advanced educational degrees in agriculture and business as well as programs against HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, for mother and child care and to promote family planning.
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Nearly $42 million for governance and democracy programs. The money is to support democratic practices in political parties and in civil society, promote free and fair elections, develop the media and support the legislative process. The Bush administration budget request noted that elections were planned in 2008, a prospect now in doubt because of the imposition of emergency law over the weekend.
[Associated Press; By PAULINE JELINEK]
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