WASHINGTON – The US military is seeking to reallocate $300 million in aidto Pakistan due to Islamabad’s lack of “decisive actions” in support ofregional American strategy, the Pentagon said on Saturday.
The US has been pushing Pakistan to crack down on alleged militant safehavens in the country — Islamabad denies any safe havens on its soil — andannounced a freeze on aid at the beginning of the year that an officialsaid could be worth almost $2 billion.
“Due to a lack of Pakistani decisive actions in support of the South AsiaStrategy… $300m (actually $323.6m to include non-Pakistan funds) wasreprogrammed by the Defense Department in the June/July 2018 time frame forother urgent priorities,” Lieutenant Colonel Kone Faulkner said.
The US defence department “is awaiting a congressional determination onwhether this reprogramming request will be approved or denied”, Faulknersaid. The move comes ahead of Secretary of State Michael Pompeo andChairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Joseph F. Dunford’svisit to Islamabad next week.
They are also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Imran Khan.
In their talks with Pakistani officials, the delegation will “make veryclear what we have to do, all of our nations, in meeting our common foe,James Mattis has said earlier “And make that a primary part of thediscussion.”
Pakistan has fought fierce campaigns against homegrown militant groups andsays it has lost thousands of lives and spent billions of dollars in itslong war on extremism.
But US officials accuse Islamabad of ignoring or even collaborating withgroups that attack Afghanistan from alleged safe havens along the borderbetween the two countries.
The White House believes that a Pakistani crackdown could be pivotal indeciding the outcome of the long-running war in Afghanistan.
President Donald Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama authorised drone strikeson Pakistani soil and sent US commandos to kill Osama bin Laden in hisAbbottabad hideout.
But Trump’s aggressive language has especially angered Pakistani officials.“The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billiondollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing butlies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools,” Trump wrote on Twitter atthe beginning of the year.
“They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with littlehelp. No more!”
Pakistani leaders disputed the $33b figure, insisting that around half ofthe money relates to reimbursements, and the prime minister’s officeaccused Trump of ignoring the great sacrifices the country has made tofight extremism.
In March, a senior US official said that Pakistan has “done the bareminimum to appear responsive to our requests,” and concerns over a lack ofaction by Islamabad against militant groups still persist.
“We continue to press Pakistan to indiscriminately target all terroristgroups,” Faulkner had said. – APP/AFP