CRS: Congressional Skepticism About Pakistan Has Deepened

The Congressional Research Service has a new report out on Osama bin Laden’s Death: Implications and Considerations. The biggest consideration might be whether or not Congress want to go on funding billions in direct aid to Pakistan.

In the wake of revelations that the world’s most-wanted terrorist had apparently been living for years in a comfortable home in a relatively affluent city and only one kilometer away from Pakistan’s premier military academy, congressional skepticism about the continuation of large aid disbursements to Pakistan has deepened even further. On May 3, 2011, H.R. 1699, the Pakistan Foreign Aid Accountability Act, was introduced in the House. The Act would prohibit future foreign assistance to Pakistan unless the Secretary of State certifies that the Pakistani government was not complicit in hiding OBL. Depending on the course of Pakistan’s future policy statements and levels of cooperation with the United States, Congress may choose to adjust current assistance funding levels. Such funding flows are already hindered by U.S. concerns about corruption and lack of transparency in Pakistan’s implementing partners.

Add complicity in hiding OBL on top of the customary corruption and "lack of transparency," and it sounds like Pakistan has had its three strikes.