Pakistan, US negotiating new mechanism for CSF amount

ISLAMABAD: With expectation of receiving Rs170.7 billion from US on account of Coalition Support Fund (CSF) in the budget 2016-17, Pakistan and US are currently negotiating new mechanism for reimbursement of incurred expenditures in ongoing fight against militants continuously undertaken by Pakistan Army after expiry of existing mechanism from October this year.

Pakistan is also asking US to provide F-16 planes as promised by Washington as Islamabad is insisting upon US authorities to fulfill their commitments on this front.

According to budget 2016-17 documents, the government made allocation of Rs170.7 billion titled under ‘Defence Services Receipts’ against revised estimates of Rs169.572 billion in outgoing financial year 2015-16. Initially, the government had allocated Rs154 billion in the budget 2015-16 but this amount went up in accordance with revised estimates. “We are negotiating new arrangements with US regarding CSF and nothing is finalised so far on this account,” Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar confirmed to couple of reporters when asked him in this regard after post budget press conference here on Saturday. However, the minister declined to offer any further comments when asked more questions on this subject.

However, the top official sources claimed that Pakistan’s funding under CSF would be safe till June 2017 because US legislation forums considered and approved $900 million for their next budget starting from October 1, 2016. When asked about remaining amount to receive inflows of $1.66 billion for materialising total budgeting amount of Rs170 billion, the official said that there were pending amounts under CSF head and total obligated amount would enable Islamabad to receive its anticipated receipts without any shortfall.

The CSF is amount which incurred by Pakistan Army to flush out militants in different parts of the country and then reconciled bills were dispatched to US which were paid back after lapse of several months.

On average, Pakistan had received around $1 billion as CSF reimbursement since 2002-3 on average. In totality on account of CSF, economic and military assistance, Pakistan had received around 14 percent inflows from US compared to its estimated losses of $118 billion.

Pakistan and USA’s relations had always witnessed boom and bust cycle over last several decades but Islamabad always complained that Washington had abandoned Islamabad after collapse of USSR by 90s that ultimately resulted into surfacing of Taliban phenomena in this region. Now after becoming an ally of US led war against terrorism since 9/11, 2001, Pakistan had suffered losses of $118 billion but in return it had received peanuts in terms of civil and military assistance. 

However, according to Center for Global Development, the United States began providing economic assistance along and military aid to Pakistan shortly after the country’s creation in 1947. In total, the United States obligated nearly $67 billion (in constant 2011 dollars) to Pakistan between 1951 and 2011. The levels year to year have waxed and waned for decades as US geopolitical interests in the region have shifted. 

Peaks in aid have followed years of neglect. In several periods, including 1990s, US had halted aid entirely and shut the doors of the USAID offices. This pattern had rendered the United States a far cry from a reliable and unwavering partner to Pakistan over the years, it concluded.