McCaul Legislation Diverts Foreign Aid to Southwest Border Unless Pakistan Cuts Ties to Terrorists - Secretary Clinton Shares Concerns, Will Evaluate

AUDIO/VIDEO:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXBtx0iXoas

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Michael McCaul (R-TX) introduced legislation that wouldrequire the Secretary of State to certify to Congress that Pakistan is notaiding, assisting, advising or informing the Haqqani terrorist network in any way, otherwise U.S. aid to Pakistan will be cut off and redirected toward fighting Mexican drug cartel violence on our southwest border. Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, is an original co-sponsor of the bill.

This year, the State Department is requesting $2.4 billion incivilian and security assistance to Pakistan, some of which could end up in the hands of the Haqqani network which is behind suicide attaks in Afghanistan and is responsible for hundreds of American deaths. Defense and intelligence aid would remain in tact.

“When I met with President Zardari he expressed a commitment to eradicating the Haqqani terrorist network, but I am not convinced that he has enough control over his military and intelligence to follow through,” said Rep. McCaul, who led a Homeland Security Committee delegation to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq in November. “I tried to make it clear to him that foreign aide from the United States is in jeopardy.”

“In my view it is an absurd foreign policy to indirectly fund a terrorist network that has killed Americans and continues to plot against us,” said Rep. McCaul.

"There is no doubt in my mind that certain elements of the Pakistani government are more ambivalent about cracking down on terrorism than other elements," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Rep. McCaul in response to the legislation. "I take seriously the underlying thrust of your question and I will carefully evaluate all factors when it comes time to make a decision."

“I would urge you to continue your efforts to get them to fight with us against these terrorists rather than be complicit with them,” responded Rep. McCaul, who chairs the Homeland Security Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee and serves on the Foreign Affairs Middle East Subcommittee.

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee in September, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Admiral Mike Mullen, stated that the Haqqani network is operating with Pakistan’s support. Mullen stated that there is credible evidence that an attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul in June 2011, a sucidice bombing targeting U.S. troops in the Wardack Province in September 2011, and an attack on the U.S. embassy in Kabul in September 2011, were conducted by the Haqqani network with the help of the Pakistani government, which also provides safe havens to the Haqqanis.

Under Congressman McCaul’s legislation, short of the Secretary of State’s certification that Pakistan is not working with the Haqqanis, foreign aid to that country would be made available to fight the war against Mexican drug cartels along the southwest border. “This war has been raging for years and we don’t have a strategy, nor have we committed the resoucres to combat it,” said Rep. McCaul.

“We are sensitive to the characteristics that some of these drug traffickers have adopted that certainly resemble terrorist activities,” Secretary Clinton testified during a hearing in October. “I have said it has characteristics of an insurgency.”

A report released last year documented spillover violence on the U.S. side of the border and outlined the cartels’ strategy is to create a one-county-deep safe zone inside the United States to operate free of law enforcement interference.

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