NEW YORK-The short headline on a major American newspapers editorial on Thursday-Pakistan Fights, (US) Congress Sleeps-conveys its central message: stop foot-dragging in providing aid to Pakistan, which has taken on militants in right earnest. Noting that US aid package has hit repeated hurdles on Capitol Hill, while US allies shortchange Pakistan on humanitarian assistance for the people displaced by the anti-Taliban offensive, The Wall Street Journal said, 'This is myopic and dangerous. If Pakistan fails to defeat the Islamist insurgency, the consequences will resonate far and wide, in the worst case with al Qaeda getting Pakistans nuclear stockpile. 'Earlier this year, the Obama Administration prodded, pleaded and shamed Pakistan to fight. Passive acceptance of Taliban gains turned into the current counter-offensive. The military has since taken back the Swat Valley and shifted its sights to such tribal regions as Waziristan, the paper added. 'Those gains are fragile, however, and need urgent shoring up. General David Petraeus (of the US Central Command) got $400 million in the supplemental budget this spring to improve Pakistani military capabilities. The US is speeding up the delivery of helicopters and other hardware for counterinsurgency. In the past, the Pakistanis were all too happy to upgrade their F-16s and put them on the border with India while ignoring the Taliban threat, it said. 'More disappointing has been the slow Congressional progress of the five-year, $7.5 billion aid package requested by President Barack Obama. The bill got bogged down in the House over Pakistans past sins of nuclear proliferation and abetting of terrorism. We share the anger over atomic salesman A.Q. Khan and the use of Pakistani safe havens to launch attacks against Afghanistan and in November against Mumbai. But the explicit certification requirements written into the House bill by California Democrat Howard Berman would have tied the Administrations hands and angered Pakistanis, the paper said. 'Those requirements were toned down in the bill that passed last month. It now has to be reconciled with the Senates Kerry-Lugar package, which passed last week. The package is supposed to signal US commitment to a long-term partnership, but the delay gives Pakistan good cause to question Washingtons sincerity. The US has done more than its share to alleviate the humanitarian crisis, pledging $300 million of the $543 million the UN says is needed to care and resettle millions of refugees. European and Arab nations arent providing much help, though the Saudis and other Gulf states are happy to funnel funds for Islamist madrassas. US officials estimate the Taliban gets most of its funding from private Arab donations... 'Pakistans military and govt have rarely squandered an opportunity to fail. Now that theyve finally summoned the will to tackle the Islamist menace, the least the US and its allies can do is lend a hand.