WASHINGTON: The United States said on Thursday it was suspending at least$900 million in security assistance to Pakistan until it takes actionagainst the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network militant groups.
The US State Department announced the decision, saying it reflected theTrump administration’s frustration that Pakistan has not done more againstthe two groups, which have long used sanctuaries in Pakistan to launchattacks in neighboring Afghanistan that have killed US, Afghan and otherforces.
The department declined to say exactly how much aid would be suspended,saying the numbers were still being calculated and included funding fromboth the State and Defense departments.
US officials said two main categories of aid are affected: foreign militaryfinancing (FMF), which funds purchases of US military hardware, trainingand services, and coalition support funds (CSF), which reimburse Pakistanfor counter-terrorism operations. They said they could make exceptions tofund critical US national security priorities.
CSF funds, which fall under Defense Department authority, are covered bythe freeze, said Pentagon spokesman Commander Patrick Evans, sayingCongress authorized up to $900 million in such money for Pakistan forfiscal year 2017, which ended Sept. 30. None of that money has yet beendisbursed.
The freeze also covers $255 million in FMF for fiscal year 2016, whichfalls under State Department authority and whose suspension has alreadybeen announced, as well as unspecified amounts of FMF that went unspent inearlier fiscal years.
Briefing reporters, US officials stressed the suspension did not affectcivilian aid to Pakistan and that the money could go through if Islamabadtook decisive action against the groups.
“Our hope is that they will see this as a further indication of thisadministration’s immense frustration with the trajectory of ourrelationship and that they need to be serious about taking the steps wehave asked in order to put it on more solid footing,” a senior StateDepartment official told reporters.
“We’re hoping that Pakistan will see this as an incentive, not apunishment,” he added.
The Trump administration briefed Congress on its decision on Wednesday.
Pakistan has long rejected accusations that it fails to tackle themilitants battling the Kabul government and foreign forces from sanctuarieson the Pakistani side of the border.
It is largely shrugging off the proposed US aid cuts but frets thatWashington could take more drastic measures to deter what it sees asPakistan’s support for the Taliban.
Tense ties between the uneasy allies nosedived on Jan. 1 when US PresidentDonald Trump lashed out on Twitter against Islamabad’s “lies and deceit”despite $33 billion in aid and the White House warned of “specific actions”to pressure Pakistan.
South Asia expert Christine Fair of Georgetown University voiced concernthat Pakistan might retaliate for the suspension by closing the highwaysfrom the port city of Karachi on which equipment is trucked to land-lockedAfghanistan and the airspace through which supplies are flown to US-ledinternational forces there.
“What is the plan if they close the GLOCs?” she asked, using the militaryacronym for Ground Lines of Communications.
“What if the Pakistanis shut down the ALOCs (Air Lines of Communications).How do you keep supplying the ANSF?” she asked, referring to the Afghannational security forces.
“Pakistan could be within their rights if they tell us you don’t haveflyover rights anymore,” she said.