Rand Paul Threatens to Freeze Aid to Pakistan

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is pressing the Senate to vote on a bill to freeze aid to Pakistan after the jailed Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA track Osama bin Laden told Fox News in an interview that his spy-service interrogators said they consider Americans to be their worst enemies.

The jailed doctor, Shakil Afridi, in an interview with Fox News, described how he was brutally tortured by Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence. He told Fox News that the Pakistanis told him "the Americans are our worst enemies, worse than the Indians” and that the country's claims of cooperation with the U.S. are a sham to "extract" billions in U.S. aid.

In response, Paul on Monday renewed his effort to compel the Senate to vote on a bill to freeze aid to Pakistan unless Afridi is released.

"Because of the urgency of seeing that Dr. Afridi is freed, I am prepared to pursue any and all means to secure a vote on my bill immediately, including objecting to other Senate business and recessing the Senate for the election," Paul wrote in a letter Monday to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, according to Fox News.

Paul said the U.S. "should not give foreign aid to a country whose government is torturing the man who helped us kill Osama bin Laden,” according to Fox News.

"We should not be giving foreign aid to any country that is not clearly our ally. This must end, and this week I will renew my push for a vote on this issue, including holding up Senate business to accomplish this goal," he said.

Afridi told Fox News he helped the CIA out of love for the U.S. "I have a lot of respect and love for your people," he told the network.