US AID TO PAKISTAN JUST GOT TOUGHER
A key congressional panel has voted to impose tougher conditions on Pakistan to receive US assistance and authorised secretary of state to suspend aid if Islamabad fails to take effective actions against terrorist groups. —
The Pentagon will not make the remaining military reimbursements to Pakistan for fiscal year 2016 after US defence secretary Jim Mattis told Congress Islamabad had not taken sufficient action against the Haqqani network, a US official said on Friday.
“The funds could not be released to the Government of Pakistan at this time because the secretary could not certify that Pakistan has taken sufficient action against the Haqqani Network as per the requirement in the FY 2016 National Defense Authorization Act,” Adam Stump, a Pentagon spokesperson, said.
The decision comes as President Donald Trump’s administration is exploring potentially hardening its approach toward Pakistan to crack down on militants launching strikes in neighbouring Afghanistan. “This decision does not prejudge the conclusions of the White House review of South Asia strategy, which is still ongoing,” Stump said.
Relations between the two countries have been frayed over the past decade, with US officials frustrated by what they term Islamabad’s unwillingness to act against terror groups such as the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network.
This is not the first time the Pentagon has decided not to make military reimbursements. Last year, the Pentagon withheld $300 million in reimbursements. Pakistan has been reimbursed $550 million of the $900 million the country was authorised to receive in fiscal year 2016. Out of remainder, $300 million had already been reprogrammed for other purposes, but had not been previously reported.
Mattis’ latest decision affects the remaining $50 million. The amount is under the Coalition Support Fund CSF), a US Defense Department programme to reimburse allies that have incurred costs in supporting counter-terrorist and counter-insurgency operations. Meanwhile, a key congressional panel has voted to impose tougher conditions on Pakistan to receive US assistance and authorised the secretary of state to suspend aid if Islamabad fails to take effective actions against terrorist groups.
The House Appropriations Committee had on Thursday approved by voice vote the 2018 State and Foreign Operations
Appropriations Bill, which seeks certification from Rex Tillerson for disbursement of US aid to Pakistan, making it conditional for Islamabad to take action against terrorist groups.
The Bill now heads to the House of Representatives for consideration.
It provides $47 billion in regular discretionary and Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding.
This is $10 billion fewer than the amount earmarked for fiscal year 2017, when counting additional funds provided last year in the Security Assistance Appropriations Act.
Within this amount, OCO funding totals $12 billion, which supports operations and assistance in areas of conflict, such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
The bill says that none of the funds appropriated by this Act under the 'Economic Support Fund', the 'International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement', and the 'Foreign
Military Financing Programme' for Pakistan may be made available unless the secretary of state certifies to the committees that Islamabad is taking action against terrorist groups.
Under the bill, the secretary of state is asked to certify that Pakistan is cooperating with the US in counter-terrorism efforts against the Haqqani network, the Quetta Shura Taliban, Lashkar-e-Tayba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, alQaeda, and others, including taking effective steps to prevent such terrorist groups from basing and operating in Pakistan and carrying out cross-border attacks into neighbouring countries.
The decision comes as US President Donald Trump’s administration is exploring potentially hardening its approach toward Pakistan to crack down on militants launching strikes in neighbouring Afghanistan. Last year, the Pentagon withheld $300 million in reimbursements