US President Barack Obama, vowing a new focus on rooting out extremism from Pakistan, has already thrown his support behind a bill in Congress to triple non-military assistance to Pakistan to 1.5 billion dollars a year. But Wood said the United States would go ahead and establish "benchmarks" for progress:
"We want to see certain standards and goals met," he said. "I think you would expect when the US taxpayer is providing money, assistance to a country, that we want to make sure that we're not only getting our money's worth but that certain things that we care about we want to see that they be dealt with," he said.
He did not specify conditions, but Obama last month said Pakistan should take stronger action in rooting out al Qaeda extremists, who are believed to be holed up in areas bordering Afghanistan. Obama, in backing the aid package, called it a "down payment" for future security despite strained US financial resources due to the economic crisis. The World Bank said Monday that Pakistan could get pledges of between four and six billion dollars at the Tokyo donors conference, to be attended by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.