Since 2002, the United States has provided Pakistan with additional economic and humanitarian assistance, totaling more than $11 billion that are neither specifically security-related, in or part of the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) budget that is used for Pakistan. While it is arguable that some of that US economic and humanitarian aid is used for security purposes, or is used to deal with the refugees and food insecurity caused by fighting in the border region, I do not count this assistance as part of the war effort and report here only the CRS numbers for security assistance. It is also plausible that most of that money — beyond that used for disaster assistance — would not have gone to Pakistan absent a war since the US was giving little or no aid to Pakistan prior to the 9/11 attacks. All told, Pakistan has received about $33 billion in economic and security assistance, including Coalition Support Funds as part of the Afghanistan operational budget, since 2002.

There are three ways the US operates in Pakistan: Since 2001, the US has used Pakistan as an overland route for supplies to Afghanistan. The United States reimburses and compensates Pakistan for the use of its ports and overland transportation of food, fuel and military equipment through Pakistan en route to Afghanistan with Coalition Support Funds, which are included in the budget for OCO in Afghanistan. Since the start of the war in Afghanistan, the US provided about $15 billion in Coalition Support Funds to Pakistan. The Department of Defense describes the role of Coalition Support Funds as reimbursement for “expenses Pakistan incurs to conduct operations against al Qaeda and Taliban forces include providing logistical support for its forces, manning observation posts along the Afghanistan border, and conducting maritime interdiction operations and combat air patrols.”[i]

Pakistan is a zone of US military operations, including drone strikes and cross­‐border attacks, against Al Qaeda, the Taliban and other militants. The money spent on US drone strikes in Pakistan is included in the US Department of Defense (DOD) budget for Afghanistan. The US is also a direct supplier of military assistance, equipment and training for Pakistan’s military forces in their operations against militants. The US has provided an additional $8 billion in security‑related funding through the Departments of Defense and State to Pakistan since 2001 for border security, counter‐narcotics and counterinsurgency activities.

The full report by Brown University published in September 2016 can be accessed here.

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[i] Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller). (2015). Overseas Contingency Operations, Operations and Maintenance, Defense‑Wide

NB: The graph is shown in constant dollars. The table is illustrative: US fiscal years and the Pakistani military budget run on different cycles.

Source: Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service. Pakistan’s military budget: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). (2016). SIPRI Military Expenditure Database: Pakistan’s military budget; Pakistani Military Spending.