Pak frets over US plans
Washington could slash 'security aid' to Islamabad
Islamabad: Pakistan is shrugging off proposed US aid cuts but frets that Washington could take more drastic measures to deter what it sees as the South Asian nation's support for Taliban militants causing chaos in Afghanistan.
Washington plans to imminently slash "security assistance" to Pakistan, US congressional aides told Reuters on Wednesday, although the type, scale and length of the cuts was unclear. A day earlier, the White House said it would suspend about $255 million in already delayed military assistance.
Tense ties between the uneasy allies nosedived on January 1 when President Donald Trump lashed out on Twitter against Islamabad''s "lies and deceit" despite $33 billion in aid and the White House warned of "specific actions" to pressurise Pakistan.
A staunch US Cold War ally and key player in the US-backed invasion of Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US, Pakistan has watched warily as Washington has in recent years pivoted towards India.
Over the past decade, US threats to cut aid have been part and parcel of its frustrating relationship with Pakistan, a nation also seen as vital to the peace process in Afghanistan. "Aid cuts will not hurt us," Miftah Ismail, Pakistan's de facto finance minister, said.
"That's not the leverage they have, because it is something they have reduced drastically over the years."
Pakistan received about $1 billion in US assistance in 2016, down from a peak of about $3.5 billion in 2011, Pakistani and US officials say.
About $550 million of the 2016 total came from the Coalition Support Fund (CSF), a US defence department programme to reimburse allies for the costs of supporting counter-terrorist and counter-insurgency operations. Pakistan was the largest recipient of such funds.
The remaining $450 million was a mix of military assistance and funds for international NGOs and other development programmes.
Analysts say there are limits to how much the US can fracture relations, since Pakistan cannot be isolated or completely sidelined, because of its proximity to, and influence in, Afghanistan. "There is really no way forward for the US in Afghanistan without Pakistan playing some kind of cooperative role," said Huma Yusuf, a Wilson Centre Global Fellow. Reuters
