* Pentagon sees serious and growing threat
* Security, development, humanitarian aid to be included
* Plan is part of Obama's next federal budget request
By Jim Wolf
WASHINGTON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - The Obama administration is weighing a comprehensive aid package for Yemen to help thwart a growing al Qaeda threat to the country, the region and the United States, the U.S. Defense Department said on Thursday.
"We are looking to be able to help Yemen increase the capacity not only of the government but of their military to counter the al Qaeda threat that exists," Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters.
He said the aid -- including security, development and humanitarian assistance -- is being evaluated as part of a fiscal 2012 budget request that President Barack Obama is to send to the U.S. Congress on Feb. 7.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the regional wing, posed "a serious and growing terrorist threat to Yemeni, U.S. and regional interests," Whitman said.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Thursday that the U.S. military's Central Command had proposed spending as much as $1.2 billion over five years to boost Yemen's security forces, a major investment in a shaky government.
Some Obama administration officials doubt the government's ability to make good use of such a flood of U.S. funding, fueling internal debate on what many deem the biggest counterterrorism threat outside Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Journal said.
Whitman said the matter was the subject of inter-agency deliberations involving the State Department and Defense Department in a "whole-of-government" approach that would be much broader than the Central Command proposal.
The administration planned to address the political, economic and social challenges that Yemen faces, not just security and counterterrorism, he said.
The United States provided $155 million to train and equip Yemeni forces in fiscal 2010, up from $67 million in 2009. U.S. development and humanitarian assistance to Yemen totaled about $105 million in 2010, up from $44.7 million in 2009 and $14.3 million in 2008, said U.S. Marine Corps Major Chris Perrine, a Defense Department spokesman.
The U.S. embassy said on its website last week that it was suspending its staff's non-essential travel outside Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, because of "continuing threats from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and its affiliates".
Yemen, birthplace of Osama bin Laden's father, surged to the forefront of Western security concerns when the regional al Qaeda wing claimed responsibility for the failed bombing of a Detroit-bound U.S. airliner in December.
Western powers and neighboring top oil exporter Saudi Arabia fear al Qaeda is eyeing the country as a launch-pad for attacks regionally and beyond.
(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
