Washington, November 7: As the US began a review of aid to Pakistan after imposition of emergency rule, its choices seemed limited by its need to keep President Pervez Musharraf on its side in the fight against terror.
Officials at the White House and the State Department indicated as much Tuesday as they were hard put to defend the Bush administration's double standards in reacting to the situation in Myanmar and Pakistan where 'an ally in the war on terror has made a mistake'.
"We have to be mindful to make sure that we do not undermine any of our counter-terrorism efforts. The president has to protect the American people," said White House spokesperson Dana Perino.
"Pakistan is a country where extremists are trying to take hold and have a safe haven, and we had to deny them that. And we have been working with the Pakistani government, through President Musharraf, for the past several years on that," she said.
"I don't think that anybody expects that the president or the government is going to take a step that might make the United States less safe or might diminish our capabilities to fight terror," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
But he insisted officials would be 'absolutely faithful' in upholding US laws conditioning military aid to Pakistan, which has reached nearly $10 billion since the Sep 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
McCormack said the administration was committed to a thorough review of US aid to Pakistan and officials at State and Defence departments and other government agencies were doing an inventory of aid programmes and legal requirements.
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