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AT News Report-KABUL: Pakistan has been putted in Special Watch List besides, the US announced suspension of entire security assistance to Pakistan for failing in crackdown against the Taliban and Haqqani network on its soil.
This time, there is no room left for Pakistan to make it possible to escape from US wrath—and the Afghan masses who suffered a lot at hands of Pakistani-backed militants, widely welcomed the US administration’s tougher approach against mother of all terrorists, and the hostile neighbor Pakistan.
The US state department’s announcement is a clear indicator of Washington’s escalating frustration over Pakistan’s cooperation in fight against terrorist outfits that have been openly roaming and enjoying freedom on its soil and use it as a launching pad for terrorist activities in Afghanistan and destabilizing the region.
“Today we can confirm that we are suspending … security assistance only to Pakistan at this time,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a news briefing in Washington.
However, she said the aid cut-off would not be permanent and only affected military aid until the Pakistan took result-oriented action against terrorist groups including the Afghan Taliban and the notorious Haqqani network.
According to the new approach, funds would be released to Pakistan for a specific purpose and it would be allocated after that specified target is achieved. The targets identified and agreed with the allocation could be strategic as well as issue-based.
Suspension of the aid would be included equipments and the transfer of security-related funds, with the exceptions of the US national security reasons. “We are still working through the numbers,” Nauert added.
Prior to this Washington has cut-off $255 millions in security assistance from the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) fund. In addition to that, the Congress has also cut by 50 percent the $700m set aside for reimbursing Pakistan for supporting US war on terror efforts along the Durand Line.
This decision by the US administration would now affect the remaining $350m in this account, known as the Coalition Support Fund. This comes at a time when the US wants Pakistan’s cooperation for its strategy on Afghanistan.
Moreover on Thursday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has placed Islamabad on a special watch list for continued violations of religious freedoms. It is for the first time that a ‘Special Watch List’ has been created for countries that “engage in or tolerate severe violations of religious freedom but may not rise to the level of CPC (Countries of Particular Concern).
