Why US is questioning Pakistan's Rs 3 trillion defence spending

The US also criticised Islamabad for not publishing its executive budget proposal within a reasonable period (representative image) The US state department has flagged a lack of adequate parliamentary and civilian oversight of Pakistan's military and intelligence spending, while also raising concerns over limited disclosure of government debt and delays in publishing the executive budget proposal.The concerns were highlighted in the 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report, which assessed Pakistan's public financial transparency and identified gaps in the country's budgetary and fiscal disclosure practices.The report noted that Pakistan made its enacted budget and end-of-year financial statements widely available online. However, it said military and intelligence budgets remained outside adequate parliamentary or civilian public scrutiny.“The military and intelligence budgets were not subject to adequate parliamentary or civilian public oversight,” the report said.The US also criticised Islamabad for not publishing its executive budget proposal within a reasonable period.According to the assessment, this limits the time available for lawmakers and civil society to examine government spendin...