ISLAMABAD – On the issue of the Coalition Support Fund from US:,Pakistan government takes important decision.
Pakistan will not seek Coalition Support Fund from the United Statesdespite Islamabad’s claim that this money is only reimbursement, officialssaid on Friday.
Senior officials at the foreign ministry told The Nation that Islamabad wasin contact with Washington but never spoke about the CSF recently.
“We have clearly told them it’s up to them to decide. The fact is we havespent this money for them and these are only reimbursements. They don’twant to pay us, we will not insist but we don’t appreciate it anyway,” saidone official.
Another official said that improvement of trust level with the US was moreimportant for Pakistan rather than money. “The trust level is the keyissue. We want to improve that. We have conveyed to them that we want tradenot aid. The CSF of course is not aid,” he clarified.
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Earlier, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central AsiaAlice Wells said the US budget for the upcoming financial year does notinclude any security assistance for Pakistan’s military but only civilianassistance programming.
The statement released by House Foreign Affairs Committee said the budgetrequest for India will be increased and those for Afghanistan and Pakistanwill be “rationalized.”
