He said that Pakistan was under pressure for balance of payment position and the release of the CSF of around $700 million would help ease the balance of payment position. The spokesman further informed that Pakistan had received under CSF, $1.12 billion in July 2012.
Pakistan is utilising most of the amount to support Pakistan Army troops for covering food, ammunition and other expenses who are fighting was against terrorism on Pak-Afghan border, he remarked. "It is a welcome step on the part of US for reimbursing around $700 million to Pakistan and we welcome it", he said. The Pentagon has notified Congress this month that it would reimburse Pakistan nearly $700 million for the cost of stationing 140,000 troops on the border with Afghanistan, The New York Times report said.
The $688 million payment - the first since this summer, covering food, ammunition and other expenses from June through November 2011 was sent to Capitol Hill on December 7, according to the paper. The reimbursements had been held up until now due to disputes over several incidents last year that hurt the bilateral relations.
American and Pakistani officials say, Congressional reaction to Pentagon's notification with no opposition to the move, underscores how relations between the two countries have been gradually thawing since Pakistan reopened the Nato supply routes in July after an apology from the Obama administration for an American air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November 2011.
The US-Pakistan relationship was rocked in the past two years by a CIA contractor's shooting of two Pakistanis, the Navy SEAL raid that killed Bin Laden and the November 26, 2011 air strike on Salala posts along the Afghan border. A senior American official dealing with Pakistan said recently that "this is the longest we've gone in a while without a crisis. "Sherry Rehman, Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, said, "Pakistan-United States relations are settling down to a more stable trajectory."
The improvement in relations has allowed the United States to reduce the huge backlog of Nato supplies at the border - down to about 3,000 containers from 7,000 when the border crossings reopened - and to conduct dry runs for the tons of equipment that will flow out of Afghanistan.