Washington:  The United States should rethink its approach in Pakistan, including a multimillion dollar programme aimed at training and equipping tribal militants, unless Islamabad does more to keep terrorists from crossing the Afghan border, a top Democrat said today.

Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, told reporters after a three-day trip to the region that US officials have little confidence that pieces of the Pakistan government, particularly its army, are working actively to stop the flow of Taliban fighters and weapons into Afghanistan. In some cases, these groups might even be supporting terrorists, he said.

"If that's our intelligence assessment, then there's a real question as to whether or not we should be putting money into strengthening the Frontier Corps on the Pakistan side," Levin said in a conference call from Qatar.

Levin is among a growing chorus of Democrats who question the more than USD 10 billion in US military and economic aid given to Pakistan to fight terror since the September 11,2001,attacks on the United States.

The senior Democrat, who oversees a major policy bill authorising more than USD 600 billion in annual defence spending, said he is interested in restricting USD 70 million designated for Pakistan s Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force that operates in the western tribal region.

"I don't think we ought to be focusing on moving our troops into Pakistan; we ought to be insisting that Pakistan remove those threats," Levin said. "And if they don't remove those threats, that should change our policy, including our military funding for the Pakistanis, if they're not going to address the threats that end up hurting and harming our people and endangering Afghanistan."

Source : PTI