The US will not resume security aid to Pakistan until it addresses America's concerns on terrorist safe havens, the Pentagon said, underlining that Islamabad's action against militants would not only help Afghanistan but also protect India and the entire region.
The US in January suspended more than USD 1.15 billion security assistance to Pakistan, accusing Islamabad of harbouring terror groups like the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network within its border and showing unwillingness to take decisive actions against them. In addition, the Department of Defense had suspended the entire USD 900 million of the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) money to Pakistan for the fiscal year 2017.
“The US government has been very honest and open both publicly and privately with Pakistan on the things that they need to address before we can move forward with the resumption of the aid that has been suspended,” lt Col Mike Andrews, a spokesperson of the Department of Defence told PTI.
But at the same time, he also noted that except for exceptional circumstances – that too on a case-by-case basis with approval from the authorities – it has no plans to cross the international border in striking terrorists across the border from Afghanistan.
Andrews recently returned from Afghanistan wherein he accompanied the Defence Secretary Jim Mattis.
The focus of Mattis' trip to Afghanistan last week was to review the progress of the South Asia Policy in the war-torn country and to see the preparedness of the Afghan security forces.