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Title:  "Raphel: Administration Seeks Revision of Pressler Amendment." US efforts to work more closely with Pakistan have been hampered by the sweeping sanctions imposed under the Pressler Amendment which prohibits US aid to Pakistan unless the President can certify that Pakistan does not have a nuclear explosive device. (950914)

Author:  MARSHALL, RICK (USIA STAFF WRITER)
Date:   19950914

Text:
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09/14/95 RAPHEL: ADMINISTRATION SEEKS REVISION OF PRESSLER AMENDMENT (Pressler: guarantees on nuclear program still needed) (460) By Rick Marshall USIA Staff Writer Washington -- U.S. efforts to work more closely with Pakistan have been "hampered by the sweeping sanctions imposed under the Pressler Amendment five years ago," a senior State Department official told the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs September 14.

The Pressler Amendment prohibits U.S. aid to the government of Pakistan unless the President can certify that Pakistan is not in possession of a nuclear explosive device.

"While the Administration strongly supports the Amendment's goal of curbing Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, the legislation needs to be revised to fit current global realities and to better achieve our nonproliferation objectives," Robin Raphael, assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs, said.

"Of most immediate concern are the Pressler roadblocks to cooperation with Pakistan's government in areas such as combatting terrorism and furthering U.S. commercial interests in a lucrative market.... Our ability to press key nonproliferation goals over the longer term has also been eroded by the Pressler Amendment," she stated.

The sponsor of the amendment, Senator Larry Pressler (Republican, South Dakota), also appeared before the subcommittee to urge the amendment remain in force.

"I want to see our relations improve" with Pakistan, Pressler said, "but not by sacrificing other vital U.S. policy goals. Conditions must be made and kept before modifications are made to the Pressler Amendment."

"We need to put South Asia on the path toward a nuclear arms build-down to zero.... Pakistan should provide verifiable, written guarantees that it has capped its nuclear program and that any future U.S. assistance would not be used to further its nuclear weapons and nuclear delivery programs," the senator said.

One of the most contentious issues in U.S.-Pakistani relations concerns the 28 F-16s which United States had planned to sell to Pakistan, but which the Pressler Amendment prevented.

The Clinton Administration is now proposing to sell the aircraft to another country in order to compensate Pakistan for the money it lost. "Putting this issue behind us will permit a more normal and productive relationship between Washington and Islamabad," Raphel commented. "The United States should...resolve the fundamental unfairness of a situation where we have ended up with both Pakistan's money and the embargoed equipment."

The President is also seeking congressional authority to give Pakistan $370 million worth of military equipment, including three P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft.

According to Deputy Secretary of Defense Bruce Riedel, the Administration has carefully considered the impact of transferring the military equipment to Pakistan and concluded that "it would not significantly affect the (military) balance -- India would remain militarily dominant, though not overwhelmingly so."

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