Aid cuts will not hurt us, says Miftah

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is shrugging off the proposed U.S.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 neighbouring Afghanistan. Washington plans to imminently slash "security assistance" to Pakistan, U.S.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.

"Aid cuts will not hurt us," Miftah Ismail, Pakistan´s de facto finance minister, told Reuters. "That´s not the leverage they have, because it is something they have reduced drastically over the years. "Pakistan received about $1 billion in U. S.assistance in 2016, down from a peak of about 3.5 billion in 2011, Pakistani and U.S. officials say.

Islamabad worries that the United States, seeking to exert greater pressure on its ally, could in future train its cross hairs on Pakistan's fragile economy and impose some sort of financial sanctions. Pakistani officials warn economic damage would weaken the country, proving counterproductive in Washington's battle against Islamist militant groups in South Asia. "I can't imagine how the U.S. financially or militarily hurts us and their own war effort doesn't get hurt," said Ismail, adding that it was impossible to find a solution to the Afghan conflict "without Pakistan being part of it".

Pakistan remains committed to friendly relations with the United States, its army chief, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, told Capital TV, but warned Washington against "coercion", and vowed not to "compromise on our self-respect".

Islamabad could "review its cooperation if it is not appreciated", its United Nations representative, Maleeha Lodhi, told media this week, which many interpreted as a reference to the vital transport route ferrying supplies to U. S. troops in Afghanistan through Pakistan´s territory.