Via Al-Jazeera -
Pakistan's government has misused billions of US aid dollars meant for anti-terror efforts, channelling the money to finance weapons against India, US officials say.
The claim, carried by the New York Times newspaper on Monday, has been denied by the Pakistani military.
Bush administration and military officials in Islamabad and Washington acknowledged that there were too few controls over the more than $5bn the US spent to bolster Pakistan's military against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, telling the paper that the strategy had to be completely revamped.
The officials said they believed much of the American money was not making its way to frontline Pakistani units but being diverted to help finance weapons systems designed to counter India.
The military had also inflated claims for fuel, ammunition and other costs to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, officials said.
"I personally believe there is exaggeration and inflation," said a senior American military official who reviewed the programme.
"Then, I point back to the United States and say we didn't have to give them money this way."
A European diplomat in Islamabad told the Times that the US should have been more cautious with its aid, saying: "I wonder if the Americans have not been taken for a ride."
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