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.
Mattis’s latest decision will now lead to United States dollars 50 million aid to Pakistan being withheld as the Congress a year ago had rescinded the remaining USD300 million funds.
“Pakistan did not take substantial action against the Afghan Taliban or Haqqani, or substantially limit their ability to threaten USA interests in Afghanistan, although Pakistan supported efforts to bring both groups into an Afghan-led peace process”, the State Department said. American officials have told CNN that the Haqqani Network was likely behind the deadly May bombing in Kabul that killed close to 100 people.
Pakistan is slated to get a similar amount of $900 million as military reimbursement under the Compensatory Support Fund in 2017, of which $400 million is tied to a certification to Congress about its actions against the Haqqani Network.
Stump, from the Pentagon, said the decision did not “reduce the significance of the sacrifices that the Pakistani military has undertaken over previous years”.
This is for the second consecutive year that the US Defence Secretary has refused to certify to Congress, as mandated by National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA), that Pakistan has taken satisfactory action against the Haqqani network.
The amount is under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF), a U.S. Defense Department program to reimburse allies that have incurred costs in supporting counter-terrorist and counter-insurgency operations.
On Thursday, the State Department’s Country Reports on Terrorism for 2016 had retained Pakistan on its list of countries that provide safe haven to terrorists.
Payments, however, are tied to a certification the Pentagon must give Congress about Islamabad’s actions against the Haqqani Network.
While many analysts believe that a tougher line on Pakistan for its connections to the Haqqani Network will be part of the administration’s new strategy for Afghanistan and the wider region, the Pentagon said that Friday’s announcement was unrelated to the wider review. “Pakistan’s efforts have reduced the ability of some militant groups to use North Waziristan and the FATA as a safe haven for terrorism”, Stump, however, added. Officials say that Mattis had already “reprogrammed” the other $300 million to other unspecified purposes, so that money is already spent and gone and Pakistan was never going to get it either way. Pakistan is the largest recipient of USA military reimbursements.