WASHINGTON, June 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. Congress has legislatively endorsed the Bush administration's proposal for making Pakistan a non-NATO major ally and has sent it back to the White House, diplomatic and U.S. official sources told United Press International on Wednesday.
"The official designation can now be announced soon, very soon," said a senior U.S. official who did not want to be identified.
The congressional approval completes the legal procedure needed to declare Pakistan a non-NATO ally and an official announcement is now just a formality, officials said.
Last week, Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters in Washington that the executive and legislative procedure for designating Pakistan a non-NATO major ally had already started. Powell proposed making Pakistan a non-NATO ally during a visit to Islamabad on March 18.
Asked when does he hope to announce the designation, Powell said, "I don't have the timelines in mind, but it's working its way through our executive and legislative process."
Pakistan became a close U.S. ally after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington when President Pervez Musharraf joined the U.S.-led "war against terror" and provided military bases for operations against the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.
The U.S. administration had sent the required 30-day notice to Congress to make Pakistan a non-NATO ally in late April. The decision becomes automatically effective if Congress fails to make a decision within the stipulated period.
But U.S. officials and diplomatic sources told UPI that Congress had sent its approval to the White House within the given period.
According to the U.S. State Department, a non-NATO major ally is exempted from suspension of U.S. military assistance. "They are also exempt from suspension of military assistance under the American Service members' Protection Act," said State Department's deputy spokesman Adam Ereli soon after Powell announced the plan to designate Pakistan.
"There are a number of other benefits too," said Ereli. "These include having U.S.-owned war reserve stockpiles on its territory outside of U.S. installations, entering certain cooperative training agreements with the United States, and eligibility for expedited processing of export licenses of commercial satellites."
The congressional approval also indicates the failure of the lobby in Washington that was trying to block the Bush administration's move to designate Pakistan a non-NATO ally.
Last month, a Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., demanded during a congressional hearing that the decision to designate should be delayed until President Bush has determined whether Pakistan qualified for nuclear-related sanctions.
Ackerman and some other lawmakers on are still campaigning for re-imposing sanctions on Pakistan under the Symington and Glenn amendments.
The United States had imposed strict sanctions on both India and Pakistan after they tested their nuclear devices in May 1998. The sanctions were, however, removed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Symington and Glenn are among the strictest sanctions in the U.S. arsenal. Imposing them can almost completely stop all major economic and military assistance to Pakistan.
The move to seek the re-imposition of nuclear-related sanctions on Pakistan started in February when Pakistan's former chief nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan confessed to heading a network of nuclear proliferators that sold nuclear technology and secrets to countries like Iran, Libya and North Korea.
But as the State Department's response shows, imposing such sanctions on Pakistan will become much more difficult once it is declared a non-NATO major ally.
At a recent congressional debate, John R. Bolton, U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, declared that it was "entirely appropriate to declare Pakistan a major non-NATO ally" despite the reported involvement of some Pakistani scientists in nuclear proliferation.
So far, the Bush administration has effectively resisted moves to reintroduce nuclear-related sanctions on Pakistan. The administration insists that it were individual scientists, and not the Pakistan government, who indulged in proliferation, and therefore, there is no need to re-impose the sanctions.
