But once it becomes a law, it is bound to tie the hands of the US administration as never before in its dealings with Pakistan. One of the provisions insists on proof that weapons provided by the US are not used for anything other than fighting terrorists along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Another provision calls for an end to visa delays for counter-terrorism personnel.

Hitherto, American military aid to Pakistan was restrictions free and what was expected of Pakistan was a gentleman’s promise that the weapons would used in the fight against terrorists. Like all promises by Islamabad, this promise was never honoured and the American military aid was used to bolster the Pak war machinery to fight the traditional enemy on the eastern border. And on their part both the State Department and the White House made no fuss and went on mollycoddling GHQ in Rawalpindi hoping that it would deliver though not fully to some extent on the anti-terrorism front.

This has not happened and American lawmakers learnt to their dismay that  their frontline ally in the war on terror was hiding world’s most wanted man in plain sight no more than 50 km from Islamabad. Hence this draft law which expressly bars the State Department aid to Pakistan unless the Secretary of State can certify to Congress that Islamabad ‘is fully assisting the United States with investigating the existence of an official or unofficial support network in Pakistan for Osama bin Laden, including by providing the US with direct access to Osama bin Laden’s relatives in Pakistan and to Osama bin Laden’s former compound in Abbottabad and any materials therein’.

When the going was ‘good’ in the US-Pak equation particularly before AQ Khan’s Nuclear Wall-Mart ‘went’ public, successive President’s had no hesitation to circumvent the Pressler Amendment .which prohibited aid and arms sales to Pakistan.  And in 1996, the American President went ahead with aid to Pakistan by ignoring evidence that some time in 1995 Pakistan had acquired 5,000 "ring magnets" from China that could be used in its covert uranium enrichment program.

Earlier this month the US had choked off some $800m in military assistance to Pakistan. It was a reaction to the expulsion of several American personnel and deliberate delays in visas to CIA personnel. A visit by ISI chief Lt Gen Pasha to Washington has eased tensions.  But new issues have cropped up since. One of these is what the US sees as urgency to launch a military offensive in North Waziristan in order to blunt the increasing attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan as also President Karzai’s trusted aides and allies.

Crystal gazing the legislative course of the law is hazardous since American legislation and government actions are often influenced by Parliamentary Caucuses and officially recognised and registered lobbyists who are generally retired diplomats and administration seniors. The House of Representatives may not have a difficulty to back the bill; the Democrat –held Senate may not.

At this point of time this much is clear. As a British daily said the new legislation is going to be a direct challenge to President Barrack Obama and his authority over foreign policy. Because, apart from Pakistan, it would block aid to Egypt, Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority, unless the White House can reassure Congress that they are co-operating in fighting terrorism.