US to Imran: Do more to halt terror from Pak soil
■ Pompeo seeks ‘ sustained, decisive’ steps
Islamabad, Sept. 5: US secretary of state Mike Pompeo met Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday and pressed him “to do more” and take “sustained and decisive measures” against terrorists threatening the regional peace and stability, days after the US cancelled $ 300 million in military aid to Islamabad for failing to rein in the terror groups operating from its soil.
Mr Pompeo, the former CIA chief who was on his first visit to Pakistan as the top American diplomat to reset ties, told reporters, “We made clear to them that – and they agreed – it’s time for us to begin to deliver on our joint commitments.”
The meeting came on the eve of Indo- US 2+ 2 dialogue in New Delhi on Thursday.
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo on Wednesday urged Pakistan to back US- led move to restart the peace process in war- torn Afghanistan.
Mr Pompeo met Prime Minister Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi separately to discuss matters pertaining to Pakistan- US relations and security situation of the region. The meetings also discussed Pakistan’s role in war on terror.
Mike Pompeo and US military chief General Joseph Dunford landed at the Nur Khan Airbase and were received by higher officials of foreign office and authorities of US embassy. Both also held a delegation level talks with foreign minister Shah Mehmood Quereshi at the foreign office.
Mr Pompeo will travel to India where he will be joined by defense secretary Jim Mattis to meet with their Indian counterparts on a range of key defense and trade issues.
Reports said that Mr Pompeo’s visit was aimed at rapprochement with Pakistan and to restore the once close ties enjoyed by Islamabad and Washington.
The visit comes a few days after the Pentagon cancelled aid to Pakistan over record on militants. The US military said that it has made a final decision to cancel $ 300 million in aid to Pakistan that had been suspended over Islamabad’s perceived failure to take decisive action against militants, in a new blow to deteriorating ties. The so- called Coalition Support Funds were part of a broader suspension in aid to Pakistan announced by President Donald Trump at the start of the year, when he accused Pakistan of rewarding past assistance with “nothing but lies and deceit.”
But US officials had held out the possibility that Pakistan could win back that support if it changed its behaviour.
US defence secretary Jim Mattis, in particular, had an opportunity to authorise $ 300 million in CSF funds through this summer — if he saw concrete Pakistani actions to go after insurgents. Mr Mattis chose not to, a US official said.
“Due to a lack of Pakistani decisive actions in support of the South Asia Strategy the remaining $ 300 million was re programmed ,” Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Kone Faulkner said.
Mr Faulkner said that the Pentagon aimed to spend the $ 300 million on “other urgent priorities” if approved by Congress. He said another $ 500 million in CSF was stripped by Congress from Pakistan earlier this year, to bring the total withheld to $ 800 million.
The disclosure came ahead of an expected visit by Mr Pompeo and the top US military officer, General Joseph Dunford, to Islamabad. Mr Mattis told reporters on Tuesday that combating militants would be a “primary part of the discussion.”
Experts on the Afghan conflict, America’s longest war, argue that militant safe havens in Pakistan have allowed Taliban- linked insurgents in Afghanistan a place to plot deadly strikes and regroup after ground offensives.