A day after President Donald Trump proposed a $336 million aid package to Pakistan in the budget for the next fiscal year, US Intelligence Chief Daniel Coats has projected that Islamabad will continue to go easy on terrorists who, with its backing, carry out attacks in India and Afghanistan.
“Militant groups supported by Islamabad will continue to take advantage of their safe haven in Pakistan to plan and conduct attacks in India and Afghanistan, including against US interests,” Coats told a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Tuesday, focusing on “Worldwide Threat Assessment”.
In a blunt assessment, Coats noted: “Pakistan’s perception of its eroding position relative to India, reinforced by endemic economic weakness and domestic security issues, almost certainly will exacerbate long-held fears of isolation and drive Islamabad’s pursuit of actions that run counter to US goals for the region.”
Relations between India and Pakistan, he said, are likely to remain tense, with continued violence on the line of Control and the risk of escalation if there is another high-profile terrorist attack in India or an uptick in violence on the line of Control.
Pakistan, the Director of National Intelligence went on to say, would continue to threaten US interests by deploying new nuclear weapons capabilities, maintaining its ties to militants, restricting counterterrorism cooperation and drawing closer to China.
On the India-China front, he expected relations to “remain tense and, possibly, to deteriorate further, despite the negotiated settlement to their three-month border standoff in August, elevating the risk of unintentional escalation”.
While answering questions from lawmakers on Pakistan, Coats commented that despite being goaded by the US, the Pakistani military was only trying to appear tougher against the Taliban and Haqqani terrorists, with actions on ground not reflecting any significant escalation of pressure against the terror groups as to have a lasting effect.