§ 2375 — Assistance To Pakistan

(a) The Congress recognizes that Soviet forces occupying Afghanistan pose a security threat to Pakistan. The Congress also recognizes that an independent and democratic Pakistan with continued friendly ties with the United States is in the interest of both nations. The Congress finds that United States assistance will help Pakistan maintain its independence. Assistance to Pakistan is intended to benefit the people of Pakistan by helping them meet the burdens imposed by the presence of Soviet forces in Afghanistan and by promoting economic development. In authorizing assistance to Pakistan, it is the intent of Congress to promote the expeditious restoration of full civil liberties and representative government in Pakistan. The Congress further recognizes that it is in the mutual interest of Pakistan and the United States to avoid the profoundly destabilizing effects of the proliferation of nuclear explosive devices or the capacity to manufacture or otherwise acquire nuclear devices. (b) The United States reaffirms the commitment made in its 1959 bilateral agreement with Pakistan relating to aggression from a Communist or Communist-dominated state. (c) Security assistance for Pakistan shall be made available in order to assist Pakistan in dealing with the threat to its security posed by the Soviet presence in Afghanistan. The United States will take appropriate steps to ensure that defense articles provided by the United States to Pakistan are used for defensive purposes. (d) The President may waive the prohibitions of section 2799aa of this title with respect to any grounds for the prohibition of assistance under that section arising before the effective date of part B of the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act of 1994 to provide assistance to Pakistan if he determines that to do so is in the national interest of the United States. (1) No military assistance shall be furnished to Pakistan and no military equipment or technology shall be sold or transferred to Pakistan, pursuant to the authorities contained in this chapter or any other Act, unless the President shall have certified in writing to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, during the fiscal year in which military assistance is to be furnished or military equipment or technology is to be sold or transferred, that Pakistan does not possess a nuclear explosive device and that the proposed United States military assistance program will reduce significantly the risk that Pakistan will possess a nuclear explosive device. (2) The prohibitions in this section do not apply to any assistance or transfer provided for the purposes of: (A) International narcotics control (including part VIII of subchapter I of this chapter) or any provision of law available for providing assistance for counternarcotics purposes. (B) Facilitating military-to-military contact, training (including part V of subchapter II of this chapter) and humanitarian and civic assistance projects. (C) Peacekeeping and other multilateral operations (including part VI of subchapter II of this chapter relating to peacekeeping) or any provision of law available for providing assistance for peacekeeping purposes, except that lethal military equipment provided under this subparagraph shall be provided on a lease or loan basis only and shall be returned upon completion of the operation for which it was provided. (D) Antiterrorism assistance (including part VIII of subchapter II of this chapter relating to antiterrorism assistance) or any provision of law available for antiterrorism assistance purposes. (3) The restrictions of this subsection shall continue to apply to contracts for the delivery of F–16 aircraft to Pakistan. (4) Notwithstanding the restrictions contained in this subsection, military equipment, technology, or defense services, other than F–16 aircraft, may be transferred to Pakistan pursuant to contracts or cases entered into before October 1, 1990. (f) The President may release the Government of Pakistan of its contractual obligation to pay the United States Government for the storage costs of items purchased prior to October 1, 1990, but not delivered by the United States Government pursuant to subsection (e) and may reimburse the Government of Pakistan for any such amount paid, on such terms and conditions as the President may prescribe: Provided, That such payments have no budgetary impact. (g) Subsection (e) does not apply to broken, worn or unupgraded items or their equivalent which Pakistan paid for and took possession of prior to October 1, 1990 and which the Government of Pakistan sent to the United States for repair or upgrade. Such equipment or its equivalent may be returned to the Government of Pakistan: Provided, That the President determines and so certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that such equipment or equivalent neither constitutes nor has received any significant qualitative upgrade since being transferred to the United States and that its total value does not exceed $25,000,000. (h) Nothing contained herein shall affect sanctions for transfers of missile equipment or technology required under section 4612 of title 50 or section 2797b of this title.