Aid suspension message to Pakistan: US

NEW YORK: A senior US official on Wednesday said cutting off military aid had sent a message to Pakistan to take a decisive action against the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani Network.

Talking to the Voice of America, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley expressed they hope that aid suspension will bring Pakistan to the table. “I hope that brings them to the table, and they realise they have to stop this. It’s not just about Afghanistan. It’s not just about the region. It’s about the world. And we made a strong point in doing that.”

“In all of our meetings with Afghanistan, there was one thing that continued to ring true. And that is, every time Afghan starts to move in the right direction, Pakistan takes them back, because of the ability they continue to hold over terrorists in Pakistan.

From our standpoint, the only way we’re going to have a safe and stable Afghanistan is if we eliminate that threat. We have told Pakistan. We’ve tried to work with them. They didn’t want to do it.

We’re just letting them know we mean business. We’re not going to turn around and give a billion dollars in military aid for them to harbor terrorists that shoot at our soldiers. We’re just not going to do that,” Haley said.

Continuing, she charged Pakistan had continued to harbor terrorism but now ‘we are doing things differently’. “We are not going to reward bad behavior anymore. And so, this is telling Pakistan, 'No more acting like you’re doing the right thing and hurting what we’re trying to do. If you want to be with us, then we want you to be with us. But if you’re going to continue to work against us, we’re not going to pay you to do it.'”