US weighs Pakistani blowback as it piles pressure

WASHINGTON: The United States is examining ways to mitigate any Pakistani retaliation as it piles pressure on Islamabad to crack down on militants, a senior US official said on Friday, cautioning that US action could extend beyond a new freeze in aid.

Pakistan is a crucial gateway for US military supplies destined for US and other troops fighting a 16-year-old war in neighbouring, landlocked Afghanistan.

So far, the Pentagon says Pakistan has not given any indication that it would close its airspace or roads to military supplies and US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis played down concerns on Friday.

But Washington has only just begun to work through its new plan to suspend up to roughly $2 billion in US security assistance, announced on Thursday. It came days after U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that Pakistan had rewarded past US aid with “nothing but lies and deceit.”

The senior Trump administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Washington hoped that the aid suspension would be enough to communicate its concern to Islamabad.

But the official cautioned that the freeze was also not the only tool that America had to pressure the country – suggesting it might resort to other measures, if needed. “We are considering many different things, not just the (financial) assistance issue,” the official said.

“We are also looking at Pakistan’s potential response ... and we are looking at ways to deal with that and to mitigate the risks to the relationship.”

The official declined to detail what steps were under consideration, including whether that might include possible unilateral US military action against militants in Pakistan.

But as Trump allow the US military to again ramp up its war effort in Afghanistan, including with the deployment of more US troops alongside Afghan forces, the official acknowledged a sense of urgency.

Mattis, speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, said he was not concerned about America’s ability to use Pakistan as a gateway to resupply US forces in Afghanistan.

“I‘m not concerned, no,” Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon, adding he had not gotten any indication from Pakistan that it might cut off those routes. Mattis travelled to Pakistan last month.

“We’re still working with Pakistan and we would restore the aid if we see decisive movements against the terrorists – who are as much a threat against Pakistan as they are to us.”

The senior Trump administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity acknowledged that a Pakistani cut-off would greatly complicate US resupply efforts in Afghanistan.

The official said the administration was developing “risk mitigation plans,” but acknowledged that examination of a northern network of alternative routes used in the past was “still at a very broad level.”

“If something were to happen to the ground lines of communication or air lines of communication through Pakistan, certainly that would be very difficult for the US and we would have to look for alternatives,” the official said. “And it would not be easy.”