2LT International News

WASHINGTON, U.S. – In a move that is threatening to further weaken Washington’s influence in South Asia, the Pentagon announced on Saturday that it had decided to cancel military aid worth $300 million to Pakistan.

Citing Pakistan’s perceived failure to decisively fight back against militants, the U.S. military said that it was suspending a portion of the Coalition Support Funds (CSF).

At the start of the year, the U.S. President Donald Trump launched an angry tirade against Islamabad, claiming that the U.S. has repeatedly helped Pakistan, only to be rewarded with “nothing but lies and deceit.”

Subsequently, Trump announced a complete freeze on aid to Pakistan, which was estimated to be worth almost $2 billion.

At the time, the U.S. Congress decided to scrap $500 million in coalition support funds from Islamabad.

Now, with the U.S. deciding to pull a further $300 million, the country has, in all, suspended $800 million in aid provided to Pakistan. 

However, the Pentagon said that it would now require the approval from Congress to re-appropriate those funds for other priorities.

Despite Pakistan’s repeated denials, the U.S. has alleged that the country is granting safe haven to insurgents who have bee waging a deadly war in neighbouring Afghanistan, that has lasted for close to 17 years now – making it America’s longest war in its history. 

Making the announcement on Saturday, Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Kone Faulkner said, “Due to a lack of Pakistani decisive actions in support of the South Asia Strategy the remaining $300 million was reprogrammed.”

He added that the money will be spent on ”other urgent priorities” if approved by Congress.

Further, the U.S. State Department too has criticized Pakistan for failing to deal with terrorist networks operating on its soil, including the Haqqani network and the Afghan Taliban.

Officials in Washington believe that these networks threaten the U.S.-backed Afghan government and have attacked and militants associated with these groups have killed many of the American troops that were sent there after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

However, the announcement came as the latest blow to the already deteriorating ties between Pakistan and the U.S. and experts believe that an escalation could weaken Washington’s influence in the region as Pakistan inches closer towards China and Russia. 

Meanwhile, the decision also comes as a blow to the country’s newly elected Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is already battling Pakistan’s economic woes. 

Khan, who has been critical of the open-ended U.S. war in Afghanistan, has so far not officially responded to the U.S. announcement. 

However, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi tore into the U.S. over the decision on Sunday, dismissing the reports over the cancellation of military aid to the country – claiming that Washington, in fact, owed the money to Islamabad for expenses incurred on fighting terrorism.

Speaking to reporters in Islamabad, Qureshi said, “It is not a cut in any [U.S.] aid, it is not assistance. This is our own money which we have used for improving the regional security situation and they had to reimburse it to us.”

So far, since 2002, Pakistan has received over $33 billion in U.S. assistance, including over $14 billion from a fund that was set up to help allies that incur military costs as they help with counter-insurgency operations.

Meanwhile, the war of words is set to lead to a tense meeting between Pakistani officials and the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, who will arrive in the country on Wednesday.