New Delhi: The Trump administration announced on Thursday that it would suspend all security aid to Pakistan.
The decision, which could affect as much as $1.2 billion in annual aid, came three days after President Trump complained on Twitter that Pakistan had “given us nothing but lies & deceit” and accused it of providing “safe haven to terrorists.”
The Trump Administration has emphasized that the freeze is temporary and could be lifted if Pakistan changed its behavior.
The suspension includes about $1.2 billion in Coalition Support Funds, which the Pentagon provides to help cover the costs of counterterrorism operations in Pakistan. The United States also will not deliver military equipment to the country.
“We can confirm that we are suspending national security assistance only to Pakistan at this time until the Pakistani government takes decisive action against groups, including the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network. We consider them to be destabilizing the region and also targeting US personnel,” State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said on Thursday.
United States officials had demanded access to a member of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network, who was captured by Pakistani forces during the rescue of a Canadian-American family in October, and were angered when Pakistan rejected the request, according to a report by The New York Times.
Pakistan’s foreign minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif hit back at US President Trump’s accusations and listed the services his country had rendered for US.
In a series of tweets, he wrote, “We considered your enemy as our own-…we filled the Guantanamo Bay, we served you with such an enthusiasm that you left our country with load shedding and gas shortage. We tried to please you on the cost of our economy … For the past decades, we have been clearing the debris. We are feeling sorry as you are not happy but we will not compromise on our prestige anymore.”
The White House has already suspended its $255 million military aid to Pakistan for now, saying the fate of such assistance will depend on Islamabad’s response to terrorism. The US has made it clear that it expects Pakistan to take decisive action against terrorists and militants on its soil, and that Pakistan’s actions in support of the South Asia Strategy will ultimately determine the trajectory of the relationship, including future security assistance.
