(PTI): The US Congress is seeking to impose tough conditions on millions of dollars of promised aid to Pakistan, despite the Pentagon pushing for immediate cash flow.

On Wednesday, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Howard L. Berman introduced a foreign assistance reform bill that sets on improving the US development strategies abroad with the focus on its monitoring and evaluation approach.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen expressed ‘strong concern’ in a letter to the Congress, criticizing the move as untimely, stressing that it would critically ‘constrain’ aid plans to insurgent-hit Pakistan.

The Pentagon briefed Congress on the South Asian country’s dire need for assistance with reports that indicated deteriorating security situation in recent days.

The US invasion of Afghanistan that ousted the Taliban regime in 2001 sent the insurgents across the border and into neighboring tribal regions of Pakistan.

The nuclear-armed state has struggled to control an increasingly ‘existential’ threat of insurgency on its soil, asking its ‘war on terror’ ally for financial backing in its efforts.

However, Islamabad has slammed missile attacks by US drones from bases across the border in Afghanistan on ‘suspected militant’ hideouts on its soil for its tendency to lead to civilian casualties, as well as undermining the country’s sovereignty.

Berman’s bill would prohibit US military assistance without a presidential guarantee that Pakistan’s government would take action to dismantle nuclear weapons-material supply networks and to combat terrorist groups.

Since the elections in February 2008, and following the ouster of former president Pervez Musharraf, the country has struggled with political rifts between the new coalition government and the opposition.

Meanwhile, embittered relations with India in the wake of last year’s terror attacks on Mumbai and unrest in Karachi and Balochistan have added to government’s list of concerns.

The local government of the North-West Frontier Province recently bowed to the demands of Taliban militants, granting implementation of Sharia law in the region in ex-change for ceasefire.

The move facilitated the regrouping of the insurgents, who continued to launch attacks in the ceasefire zones including the volatile Swat valley near the Afghan border.

The deal was finally scrapped earlier this month and the government launched an offensive against the militants last Sunday. However, some 50 Pakistani security forces were kidnapped by the militants – proving the forces’ insufficiency.