Pakistan denounces US aid cut, says fought war on terror from own resources

ISLAMABAD: Denouncing Washington´s decision to suspend over $900 million in security assistance as "counterproductive" Friday, Pakistan on Friday said Islamabad is engaged with the US Administration on the issue of security cooperation and await further details.

Foreign Office said the impact of US decision on pursuit of common objectives is likely to emerge more clearly in due course of time.

US places Pakistan on special watch list for ‘severe violations of religious freedom’

WASHINGTON: The U.S. State Department has placed Pakistan on a special watch list for

“It needs to be appreciated that Pakistan has fought the war against terrorism largely from its own resources which has cost over $120 billion in 15 years. We are determined to continue to do all it takes to secure the lives of our citizens and broader stability in the region”, foreign office spokesman said.

The United States said on Thursday it was suspending at least $900 million in security assistance to Pakistan until it takes action against the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network militant groups.

The US State Department announced the decision, saying it reflected the Trump administration’s frustration that Pakistan has not done more against the two groups, which have long used sanctuaries in Pakistan to launch attacks in neighboring Afghanistan that have killed US, Afghan and other forces.

US suspends at least $900 million in security aid to Pakistan

US officials said two main categories of aid are affected: foreign military financing (FMF), which funds purchases of US military hardware, training and services, and coalition support funds (CSF), which reimburse Pakistan for counter-terrorism operations. They said they could make exceptions to fund critical US national security priorities.

The Foreign Office further said “We believe that Pakistan-US cooperation in fighting terrorism has directly served US national security interests as well as the larger interests of international community. It has helped decimate Al-Qaeda and fight other groups who took advantage of ungoverned spaces, a long porous border and posed a common threat to peace.”

“Through a series of major counter-terrorism operations Pakistan cleared all these areas resulting in elimination of organized terrorist presence leading to significant improvement in security in Pakistan. Our efforts towards peace are awaiting reciprocal actions from the Afghan side in terms of clearance of vast stretches of ungoverned spaces on the Afghan side, bilateral border management, repatriation of Afghan Refugees, controlling poppy cultivation, drug trafficking and initiating Afghan-led and owned political reconciliation in Afghanistan.”

The statement concludes as: “Working towards enduring peace requires mutual respect and trust along with patience and persistence. Emergence of new and more deadly groups such as Daesh in Afghanistan call for enhancing international cooperation. Arbitrary deadlines, unilateral pronouncements and shifting goalposts are counterproductive in addressing common threats.”