The US is reportedly set to cancel $300m of military aid to Pakistan over failure to take required actions to tackle militant groups and reduce terrorist actions.
The development comes at a time when US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is due to visit Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Imran Khan.
In a statement, Pentagon spokesman Koné Faulkner was quoted by the Press Trust of India (PTI) as saying: “We continue to press Pakistan to indiscriminately target all terrorist groups, including the Haqqani Network and Lashkar-e-Taiba in the region.”
Faulkner was quoted by Reuters as saying: “Due to a lack of Pakistan’s decisive actions in support of the South Asia Strategy, the remaining $300m was reprogrammed.”
The US Department of Defense (DoD) is currently waiting for the congressional decision on whether the funds reprogramming request will be approved or rejected.
Faulkner was further quoted by PTI as saying: “Unfortunately, recent reporting has distorted the details of the CSF by stating several things out of context. The suspension of security assistance to Pakistan was announced in January 2018.
“The CSF is included in the suspension and it remains in place. This is not a new decision or a new announcement, but an acknowledgement of a July request to reprogramme funds before they expire.”
