{
  "id": "R44034",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "R44034",
  "active": true,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 441271,
      "date": "2015-05-14",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-06T19:04:05.879375",
      "title": "Pakistan-U.S. Relations: Issues for the 114th Congress",
      "summary": "Congress has taken keen interest in U.S. relations with Pakistan, especially as related to counterterrorism and U.S. foreign assistance. The terrorist attacks of September 2001 transformed U.S.-Pakistan relations virtually overnight. After more than a decade under broad U.S. sanctions for its nuclear proliferation activities, and later for a military coup, Pakistan became a key ally in U.S.-led efforts to combat Islamist militancy and extremism. Pakistan has been a leading recipient of U.S. assistance for nearly 15 years, having received more than $20 billion in economic, security, and humanitarian aid, and military reimbursements. The Administrations of President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama have sought close engagement with Pakistani leaders. Vital U.S. interests are seen to be at stake in this engagement related to\nregional and global terrorism; \nefforts to stabilize Afghanistan and the broader region; \nnuclear weapons proliferation; \nlinks between Pakistan and indigenous American terrorism; \nPakistan-India tensions and conflict; \ndemocratization and human rights protection; and\neconomic development. \nPakistan is a haven for numerous Islamist extremist and terrorist groups, and successive Pakistani governments are widely believed to have tolerated and even supported some of these as proxies in Islamabad\u2019s historical tensions and conflicts with neighbors. The May 2011 revelation that Al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden had enjoyed years-long and relatively comfortable refuge inside Pakistan led to intensive U.S. government scrutiny of the bilateral relationship, and sparked much congressional questioning of the wisdom of providing significant U.S. foreign aid to a nation that may not have the intention and/or capacity to be an effective U.S. partner. Pakistan\u2019s security services are seen by many independent analysts to be too willing to make distinctions between what they consider to be \u201cgood\u201d and \u201cbad\u201d Islamist extremist groups, maintaining supportive relations with Afghan insurgent and anti-India militant groups operating from Pakistani territory.\nAlthough the U.S.-Pakistan relationship has partially recovered from the 2011 nadir, Congress has since imposed both broader and more rigorous conditions on the release of foreign assistance to Pakistan. Such conditionality now applies to all non-humanitarian transfers, including military reimbursements. For the past four years, the Administration has exercised authority granted by Congress to waive those conditions in the interests of national security. \nIn January 2015, Secretary of State John Kerry led a U.S. delegation for the 5th session of the bilateral U.S.-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue to review progress in the existing five Working Group areas (economic and finance; defense; law enforcement and counterterrorism; security, strategic stability, and nonproliferation; and energy). In April, the State Department approved the possible $952 million sale to Pakistan of U.S.-built attack helicopters and missiles, suggesting that the Administration intends to continue bolstering Pakistan\u2019s capacity to combat militants in its rugged and semi-autonomous western regions. See also CRS Report R43717, Pakistan Political Unrest: In Brief, by K. Alan Kronstadt and Samir Kumar, and CRS Report RL34248, Pakistan\u2019s Nuclear Weapons: Proliferation and Security Issues, by Paul K. Kerr and Mary Beth D. Nikitin.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": true,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "encoding": "utf-8",
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R44034",
          "sha1": "b2b2ca4cf6a048fbf29ef21677ce2c947776e53a",
          "filename": "files/20150514_R44034_b2b2ca4cf6a048fbf29ef21677ce2c947776e53a.html",
          "images": null
        },
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "encoding": null,
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R44034",
          "sha1": "5b49054091dc058fe347ed69a59240c9b5d56ac9",
          "filename": "files/20150514_R44034_5b49054091dc058fe347ed69a59240c9b5d56ac9.pdf",
          "images": null
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "IBCList",
          "id": 468,
          "name": "South Asia"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Foreign Affairs",
    "Intelligence and National Security"
  ]
}