Bush asks Congress for $60m for Tribal Areas

WASHINGTON: US President George W Bush is asking US lawmakers for $60 million to help Pakistan improve the life of people in the Tribal Areas along the Afghan border. President General Pervez Musharraf is a key US ally, and the Bush administration is eager to bolster his government against a rising Islamic militancy in the lawless tribal areas. Violence linked to militants has killed more than 1,000 people in a little over three months — most in the tribal belt on the border.. Musharraf has vacillated in the past between military attacks on the militants and negotiating peace deals with them. Previous deals have been blamed for a reconstituted Al Qaeda in the region and a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan. ap

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