What benefits does the U.S. recieve from providing aid to pakistan?

oh ya ?, speed of China's military development is making "them" nervy ? make who nervy ? afganistan or Bakistan or somlian priates ?

you mean those 5 ft tall little chinese soldiers could scare 6ft tall american soldiers with full professional tough training and advance weapons ? and chinese pilots which choosen from cheap labors could beat full experience F16 or F22 pilots which come back from iraq war and have 4 years degree ?

Chinese airforce and US airforce even dont on the same page, no battle experience, no core technology, no relevant maturity industry line. how they could beat americans boeing , lock-heed martin, razy companies ? american military could take out all the chinese airforce with in 2 weeks. then their navy and 3 million infantries just be a piece of meat wait to be cut under the aggressive air-strike.

eat india ? why ? because chinese love curry and chicken masala ?

"Jay wrote: " post=148613]what does pakistan do for the U.S.?

Afghanistan and Pakistan both boarder the this mountain range that Al Qaeda inhabits. It helps the United States to control the Pakistan side of the mountain range. It also helps to have US influence in Pakistan so the Al Qaeda network doesnt bribe and corrupt the Pakistanis as easily.

China's military is being modernized like other have mentioned, but the stance of a "defensive" PLA is relative. Undoubtedly China is focused on looking after domestic matters (such as problem provinces, Taiwan, trade routes and sea lanes around China). There's also a tendency on China's part to make "domestic" issues out of international issues. Case-in-point: the issues in the South China Sea, or Taiwan. In some cases, even the basic concept of territorial waters (with the associated 12-nautical miles from land/sovereignty) is disputed.

China isn't looking to be as active as the US or the former USSR, but they are looking to grow into the world power role to look after their own needs (which is their right). Domestic issues are #1 and might be dealt with on the international stage. Strategic partnerships and stretching the domestic (defensive) label to fit future aspirations is no different than any other country that is involved on an international scale.

The foreign policy concerns of China and Pakistan are a closer match than the US and Pakistan. Like you mentioned, China and Pakistan are wary of India. Pakistan doesn't have the same focus on extreme Islam as the US. It's easy to see why Pakistan would rather spend the aid money on bulking up their capabilities vs. India.

The relationship between Pakistan and the US was already on the rocks. It's not hard to see certain performance metrics that have not been met, or a proclivity to give lip service to an issue while keeping the focus on primary issues like India. Not to say that Pakistan hasn't lost a lot of lives in their struggles with both foreign and domestic extremists. It is a concern for them, domestically. It's just not a primary concern. They've known that the western region is not idyllic, but it's something that they can tolerate.

The bin Laden raid just puts an uncomfortable focus on the different mindsets with the leadership in both countries. The US has valid issues in regards to the complaints against Pakistan, but Pakistan is understandably looking after what is most important to Pakistan. Pakistan was a better ally during the Cold War than India was, but everyone has their own set of ever-changing priorities.

I didn't read the Wikileaks postings. Is that in regards to the Mujahadeen (being a larger group that's not exclusively Taliban), or more recently with the "Taliban that we know" today? Historically speaking, Pakistan has an extremely strong tie with the Taliban.

These topics are interesting to discuss, but it's a natural tendency to interject a bit more emotion into the topics involved. The discussions can get ugly (or stereotypical) real fast.