[FelicitaJ]

Agencies | May 18, 2012, 06.27AM

WASHINGTON: Americna lawmakers of both Democratic and Republican parties have slammed the Obama administration's
request for $2.4 billion for Pakistan, calling it a "black hole" where the US has "sunk" $24 billion over the last decade.

"Pakistan is like a black hole for American aid," Gary Ackerman, top Democrat on the house foreign affairs panel on the Middle East
and South Asia said during a hearing on Wednesday.



"Our tax dollars go in, our diplomats go in - sometimes , our aid professionals go in - sometimes, our hopes go in, our prayers go
in," he said. "Nothing good ever comes out."

Alleging that Islamabad continues to pursue its national interest at America's expense and that of its allies, Ackerman said, "Pakistan
continues to shelter, directly support and sponsor terrorists . Officially acknowledging this indisputable fact might be grossly impolitic;
but that doesn't make it less true. "