World
US Plans To Reprogramme USD 300 Million Of Its Coalition Support Fund For Pakistan
The announcement comes as US government continues to pressurize Pakistan to target terrorist groups
The US recently announced that it is planning to reprogramme USD 300 million of its Coalition Support Fund (CSF) for Pakistan over its failure to take decisive actions to support President Donald Trump’s new South Asia policy and take action against terror groups like the Haqqani network and Lashkar-e-Taiba.
The announcement comes ahead of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the top U.S. military officer, General Joseph Dunford’s planned visit to Islamabad on September 5.
“Due to a lack of Pakistani decisive actions in support of the South Asia Strategy, the remaining USD 300 million (actually USD 323.6 million to include non-Pakistan funds) was reprogrammed by DoD in the June/July 2018 time frame for other urgent priorities before the funds expire on September 30, 2018,” Pentagon Spokesman Kon Faulkner said.
Until now, the Department of Defence (DoD) has reprogrammed a total of USD 800 million CSF destined for Pakistan. Around USD 500 million in CSF was stripped by Congress from Pakistan earlier this year.
Faulkner added that the decision has been taken as the US government continues to pressurize Pakistan to target all terrorist groups.
“We continue to press Pakistan to indiscriminately target all terrorist groups, including the Haqqani Network an LeT, and we continue to call on Pakistan to arrest, expel or bring the Taliban leadership to the negotiating table,” Faulkner said.
The Department of Defence is currently waiting for the congressional determination on the reprogramming request.
Pakistan, on the other hand, has dismissed all reports about US aid suspension, claiming that the money in question is owed by the United States to the country for expenses incurred on fighting terrorism.
“It is not a cut in any [US] aid, it is not assistance,” Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said during a press conference in Islamabad. He added that the money in question is the money that Pakistan had used for improving the regional security situation and the US was required to reimburse it.
