Since When Does the U.S. Fund Private Armies?

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Congress okays $59m in U.S. funds for Abbas' security forces

The Bush administration has been given a green light by Congress to spend $59 million to bolster Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' presidential guard and for other security expenses, a senior State Department official said on Tuesday.

"We are good to go ... we have addressed Congress's concerns and there is good political support for this," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The official said the State Department was officially notified by Congress late on Monday about the decision, which he said would provide much-needed security support to Abbas.

A large chunk of the initial $86 million request had been intended for training Abbas's security forces, the closest thing the Palestinians have to an army.

But U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice submitted a new, pared-down plan to Congress, cutting out funds she feared could have reached the "wrong hands."

"We decided not to proceed with that [funding national-security forces] right now until we could be sure how the system operated with the new national unity government. We haven't said we will never do that, but just that we will not do it right now," the senior official said.

Most of the security package - $43.4 million - will be used to "transform and strengthen" Abbas's presidential guard, according to U.S. government documents.

This sum includes $14.5 million for "basic and advanced training," $23 million for nonlethal equipment, $2.9 million to upgrade the guard's facilities and $3 million to provide "capacity building and technical assistance" to the office of Abbas's national security advisor, a long-time foe of Hamas.