Obama signs Pakistan aid bill worth US$7.5 billion

October 15, 2009 US president Barack Obama signed a bill that will give Pakistan US$7.5 billion worth of nonmilitary aid into law on Thursday.

The bill was signed by the president at the White House. The White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said that the law demonstrated the "tangible manifestation of broad support for Pakistan in the US."

The plan will provide money for projects to help fund energy generation, roads, schools, and water resource management in Pakistan, among other things. Congress, however, will still need to allot the money indicated in the bill, and the bill will need to be renewed annually.

Some members of the Pakistani parliament and military said that they felt some of the rules laid out in the plan might result in a breach of sovereignty. However, the Pakistani foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, said he believed that the US wasn't trying to take control over his country's internal politics.