ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: The Trump administration is warning Pakistan it couldlose US civilian aid worth tens of millions of dollars this year ifWashington finds that the South Asian nation has not done enough to combathuman trafficking, US officials said.
An aid cutback would deal a fresh blow to US-Pakistan relations followingPresident Donald Trump’s suspension in January of some $2 billion in USsecurity assistance over what Trump said was Islamabad’s failure to crackdown on Afghan insurgent sanctuaries used for attacks into Afghanistan.
A large portion of US civilian aid – $265 million in 2017, according to asource at the US Embassy in Islamabad – could be withheld if the StateDepartment puts Pakistan on a list of worst global offenders in humantrafficking in an annual report due out in June.
The funding is relatively modest for the size of Pakistan’s economy. ButIslamabad could suffer a heavier jolt if Washington also decides to opposenew assistance from international financial institutions such as theInternational Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
These are all sanctions that the United States, under federal law, canimpose on any country receiving the lowest grade on human traffickingunless Trump issues a full or partial waiver. He did so for most countrieson last year’s blacklist, following a pattern set by recent predecessorswho were especially lenient on US allies and partners.
By making good on its threat against Pakistan, the Trump administrationwould raise questions about whether it was using the Trafficking in Persons(TIP) report to pressure Islamabad to do more on counter-terrorism.
The report is not supposed to be influenced by other geopoliticalconsiderations, but human rights groups accused the Trump administrationlast year, and the Obama administration before it, of sometimesprioritizing economic and security interests over human traffickingconcerns.
Pakistani Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal told Reuters the country has “takenvery stringent steps” against human trafficking and the issue “should notbe used for political means to pressurize countries.”
A senior Trump administration official said no decision on the ranking hasbeen made, but that Pakistan, long an uneasy US ally, has been told it canavoid a lower ranking – and a possible aid cut – only “if we see themmaking sincere efforts to address the problems that have been raised.”
The US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, denied any linkbetween Pakistan’s cooperation with Trump’s strategy to force the AfghanTaliban into peace talks and the possible loss of US civilian assistance,stressing that any TIP decision would be based solely on Islamabad’s humantrafficking record.
The State Department declined comment, except to cite the penaltiesavailable under the US anti-human trafficking law.
Pakistan has long rejected US accusations that it provides Afghan Talibanand allied Haqqani network militants with sanctuaries from which theyattack the Kabul government and US-led foreign forces in Afghanistan. -Agencies