The United States will give Pakistan an aid package worth $7 billion (about Rs 28,000 crore) to fight terrorism, the Guardian newspaper reported on Thursday.

The US has also promised to curb air strikes by drones against suspected militants in Pakistan, as part of a joint counter-terrorism strategy agreed with the new civilian government in Islamabad, the paper said.

The package would triple the amount of American non-military aid to Pakistan, and is aimed at "redefining" the bilateral relationship, US officials say.

Pakistan will also be given a "democracy dividend" of up to $1 billion (about Rs 4,000 crore), a reward for holding peaceful elections and forming a coalition government, the paper said.

The aid package, being put together by the Democratic senator Joseph Biden, will mark a decisive break in US policy on Pakistan, which for much of the past nine years focused on President Pervez Musharraf [Images] and the Pakistani military as Washington's primary partners in the "war on terror". Officials in Washington said Wednesday that the shift had already been made, the paper said.

"Senator Biden wants to show the relationship is much broader than a military one, and that we are willing to sustain it over time," one of the senator's senior aides said yesterday.

A US administration official was quoted by the paper as saying: "Each day Musharraf's influence becomes less and less. Civilians are in control. People aren't meeting with Musharraf any more... we are very pleased with the new civilian government."

Pakistani officials say much of the new counter-terrorism aid will be spent on civilian law enforcement institutions, such as the interior ministry, the intelligence bureau and the federal investigation agency, rather than being channelled almost exclusively through the army and the military-run Inter-Services Intelligence.