Make sure military aid is spent properly: US tells Pak

Washington: As the call for accountability from Pakistan on the US aid gained ground at the Capitol Hill, the United States has said it would make sure that American tax payers' money sent to Islamabad is spent for the purpose it is being given and that there is no pilferage of it.

"We want to make sure, as members of Congress want to make sure, that our money is going to those areas that it's intended," the State Department spokesman, Robert Wood, told reporters at his press briefing, in response to questions in this regard.

Wood indicated that soon the Obama Administration would come out with details of such bench mark in this regard. "I don't know if I'd call them benchmarks, but certainly a set of principles that's going to guide our joint cooperation as we go forward in dealing with these tremendous challenges that both Pakistan and Afghanistan face," he said, without giving any details.

"We've to work with the Congress, work with the two governments to ensure that this money is allocated and dealt with properly," Wood said, adding this is going to be a high priority for the Administration.

"In these tough economic times we have to make sure, and the American people deserve no less than a government that's committed spending their resources the way the resources are intended to be spent," he said.

The statement came, as lawmakers at the Capitol Hill voiced their concerns about the money being given to Pakistan not being used in the fight against terrorist.

With the sacrifice that the American people are being asked to make, we want to make sure that every dollar that is spent, in terms of support for Afghanistan and Pakistan, is well spent and goes directly to the activities that they're designated for, Wood said.

The spokesman said after the tri-lateral meeting between the Presidents of the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Obama Administration would want to see movement in various areas.

"I don't want to get into the specifics of what we're going to be requiring, but you can rest assured that we take this issue very, very seriously, in terms of making sure that every taxpayer dollar is wisely spent," Wood said.

Responding to a question, Wood conceded like Afghanistan there has been a problem of corruption in Pakistan too.

"We've had a problem with corruption in Afghanistan. There's certainly corruption in Pakistan," he said.