A battle is brewing inside the Trump administration over whether to reconsider the president’s aggressive policy of withholding millions of dollars in sensitive security assistance to Pakistan on grounds that the South Asian nation is ready to address the United States concern on alleged terrorists’ safe haven, reported The Washington Times on Wednesday.
According to the US newspaper, the election of Imran Khan as prime minister of Pakistan presents the US with a rare window to reset relations between the two countries.
“With Pakistan last month holding a democratic transition of power for only the second time in its 71-year history, some of Trump’s top advisers argue that the time is ripe for Washington to begin restoring the military aid that the president cut at the start of the year,” the report said.
“The Pakistanis needed to be put in their place,” a former White House adviser on Pakistan told The Washington Times, but a former US ambassador to the country countered that “the recent cutting of security funds was an absolutely terrible decision.” Earlier this month, the US had announced to cancel another $300 million in aid to Pakistan that had been halted over what the former claims is the latter’s failure to take decisive action against militants. The so-called Coalition Support Funds (CSF) were part of a broader suspension in aid to Pakistan announced by Trump at the start of the year when he accused Pakistan of rewarding past assistance with “nothing but lies & deceit”.
Another $500 million in CSF was stripped by the Congress earlier this year, which brings the total withheld funds to $800 million.
Published in Daily Times, September 21st 2018.
