US lawmaker dismayed at USAID cut in AIDS funding for India

[Guest guest]

US lawmaker dismayed at cut in AIDS funding for India

By Arun Kumar, Washington, May 15: A senior US lawmaker has expressed

dismay that the administration has cut funding for HIV/AIDS to India,

while pouring much of its $2 billion 2009 South Asia aid to Pakistan

and Afghanistan.

Describing India as " a giant sea of relative tranquillity surrounded

by chaos and instability " , Democrat L. Ackerman Wednesday noted

that " India has experienced enormous economic growth in recent years " .

" But it still has three-quarters of a billion people who live on less

than a dollar a day and faces serious public health problems like the

threat of HIV/AIDS and a lack of potable water, " he said presiding

over a House panel hearing.

" And even though India is growing stronger economically, I am still

dismayed that the administration chose to cut funding for HIV/AIDS, "

he said at the hearing on 'US Assistance to South Asia: Is There a

Strategy To Go With All That Money?'

" While I don't think that countries should receive our assistance

indefinitely, I do think we run the risk of undoing progress already

made by cutting assistance prematurely, " said Ackerman, chairman of

House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South Asia.

" Lawyers, guns and money. Each one is necessary but in different

degrees in different countries; each is insufficient by itself, " he

said. " Without a strategy to bind them together they are only means

without an end. "

Appearing before the panel, Boucher, assistant secretary of

state for South and Central Asian Affairs, acknowledged that much of

the administration's $2 billion dollar request for South Asian

states " remains concentrated in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which are

key to regional stability " .

In Pakistan, Boucher said the administration's 2009 base request of

$300 million and an additional $100 million requested in the 2009

bridge supplemental will continue to support Pakistan's security

force modernisation and enhance the country's counter-insurgency and

counter-terrorism capabilities.

Describing South Asia as " arguably the place from which America faces

the greatest terrorist threat " , Ackerman accused the US

administration of failure to meet its national security goals to

destroy the terrorist threat and close the safe haven in Pakistan's

Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

" It was in Afghanistan that Al Qaeda plotted and carried out the

attacks of Sep 11. It is in the tribal areas of Pakistan where Al

Qaeda and the Taliban have reconstituted themselves and from where

they attack our forces, as well as those of both Afghanistan and

Pakistan.

" Yet since the beginning of the year there has been a series of

reports all of which suggest the United States has no overall

strategy for dealing with Afghanistan, Pakistan or the terrorist

threat the emanates from both, " he said.

In the case of Pakistan, the Government Accountability Office found

that " the United States has not met its national security goals to

destroy the terrorist threat and close the safe haven in Pakistan's

FATA region " , Ackerman noted.

In India, Boucher said, the US continued " to strengthen our

partnership by helping the Indians address the health needs of their

most vulnerable people, including $21 million for HIV/AIDS projects

in 2009 " .

He acknowledged that assistance request for India has decreased

slightly in fiscal year 2009 in recognition of the continuing growth

of the Indian economy and the ability of the government to fund more

of these important programmes.

Mark Ward, senior deputy assistant administrator, Bureau for Asia, US

Agency for International Development, said: " In India, more than 50

years of US assistance has helped India make tremendous gains. "

India has also emerged as a donor country for Afghanistan and Sudan.

USAID is working with the government, the private sector and other

donors to leverage approximately five dollars for every dollar of US

assistance.

For example, QUEST has leveraged almost $3 million in cash and in-

kind contributions to link learning with livelihoods for India's

youth. Through such alliances, the United States and India are

committed to working in partnership to reach India's development goal

of halving poverty by 2015.

USAID will also focus on the poorest and most underserved segments of

the population in order to combat poverty and the conditions that

promote extremism, Ward said.

The FY 2009 request of $74 million is lower than FY 2008 level. USAID

is phasing out programmes in which India has achieved significant

capacity and where the private sector can contribute, such as

economic growth and education, while continuing programmes meeting

serious social needs, such as maternal-child health.

--- IANS

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