Kerry defends continued foreign aid to Pakistan

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) on Tuesday defended continuing foreign aid to Pakistan despite indications that Pakistani officials have long known the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden.

Bid Laden was killed by U.S. forces Sunday in a compound north of Islamabad.

“We should not proceed in a kneejerk, hasty way,” Kerry said. “We should see if this can be turned to an advantage by getting some other things done we need to get done.”

Kerry said that the U.S. already puts strings on military assistance and “very little of that money has been flowing.”

“We have had a very complicated, very difficult relationship,” with Pakistan, Kerry told reporters. “We have to find a way to work together effectively.”

He compared the revelation that bin Laden was hiding in plain sight to the diplomatic problem created when CIA agent Raymond Davis was arrested for shooting Pakistani civilians.

“There have been some real hiccups,” he said.

Kerry said the U.S. should use the bin Laden revelation as leverage to get Pakistan to cooperate in the future.

“We have to find a way for the Osama bin Laden episode to create a 'reset button' ” he said.

Kerry insisted he was not defending Pakistan and said he wants to know if top people there knew where bin Laden was.

He said it was common knowledge that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) was playing “double games” and is not entirely trustworthy. 

“Everybody knows that the relationship with ISI is a problem,” he said.