Washington: The United States has suspended $2 billion security assistance to Pakistan until it takes "decisive actions" against terror groups, including the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network, but said the move has "nothing to do" with Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed.
The freezing of all security assistance to Pakistan comes after President Donald Trump in a New Year's Day tweet accused the country of giving nothing to the US but "lies and deceit" and providing "safe haven" to terrorists in return for USD 33 billion aid over the last 15 years.
The suspended amount also include USD 255 million in Foreign Military Funding (FMF) for the fiscal year 2016 as mandated by the Congress.
The US has suspended about USD 2 billion in security aid to Pakistan for failing to clamp down on the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network terror groups and dismantle their safe havens, a senior White House official told reporters on the condition of anonymity.
The USD 2 billion security aid includes USD 900 million in the Coalition Support Funds (CSF) money to Pakistan for the fiscal year 2017, the senior White House official said.
In addition, the Department of Defence has suspended other unspent money from previous fiscal years. "Today we can confirm that we are suspending national security assistance only, to Pakistan at this time until the Pakistani government takes decisive action against groups, including the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network," State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters.
"We consider them (terror groups) to be destabilising the region and also targeting US personnel. The US will suspend that kind of security assistance to Pakistan," she said.
The US, she said, will not be delivering military equipment or transfer security-related funds to Pakistan unless it is required by law.
The White House has also denied allegation that the US is speaking the language of India, saying it is the decision of the administration.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif on Thursday alleged that Trump's recent remarks against his country showed that he was "talking in the language of India".
Reacting to the Trump administration's move, Pakistan had earlier said, "We are engaged with the US Administration on the issue of security cooperation and await further details."
"Arbitrary deadlines, unilateral pronouncements and shifting goalposts are counterproductive in addressing common threats," the Foreign Office said in a statement in Islamabad earlier.
It said that Pakistan believed that its cooperation with the US in fighting terrorism directly served US national security interests as well as the larger interests of the international community.
Historically, the US has provided Pakistan over USD 1 billion in security assistance annually.
In August, while unveiling his new South Asia strategy, Trump had accused Pakistan of giving "safe haven to agents of chaos, violence, and terror," and said the time had come "for Pakistan to demonstrate its commitment to civilisation, order, and to peace".
Referring to Trump's new strategy, Nauert said despite a sustained high-level engagement by Trump administration with the government of Pakistan, the Taliban and the Haqqani Network continue to find sanctuary inside Pakistan as they plot to destabilise Afghanistan and also attack the US and allied personnel.
At the same time, Nauert made it clear that the US action has nothing to do with Pakistan not taking action against the Mumbai terror attack mastermind and JuD chief Hafiz Saeed.
"We have certainly expressed our concern about the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks being let out of house arrest in Pakistan. To my knowledge, that has nothing to do with that," she said in response to a question on Saeed, who was released by Pakistan on November last year.
"There is a USD 10 million reward out for information leading to his re-arrest, the person who is the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks who was let go in Pakistan," Nauert said.
Meanwhile, Department of Defence Spokesperson Lt Col Mike Andrews told PTI that National Defense Authorisation Act 2017 provides up to USD 900 million for Pakistan in the CSF. Of these funds, USD 400 million can only be released if the Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis certifies that the Pakistan government has taken specific actions against the Haqqani Network.
"At this stage all Fiscal Year 17 CSF have been suspended, so that's the entire amount of USD 900 million," Andrews said.
During an interaction with Pentagon reporters, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis did not respond to question if he was in favour of cutting off the aid to Pakistan. According to a senior State Department official, no decision has been taken on the fate of USD 255 million security assistance to Pakistan for the fiscal year 2017. The deadline for that is September 30 this year.
Mattis along with the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have travelled to Pakistan in recent months to deliver tough message to the country's leadership. So, this action should not come as a surprise to them, Nauert said. "They may say it's a surprise, but what is no surprise is that the President has expressed his concerns, Secretary Tillerson has expressed his concerns, as has Secretary Mattis, and I imagine many other government officials having those conversations with Pakistan," Nauert said.
Now, the money that has been suspended at this time does not mean that it will be suspended forever, she said. "Pakistan has the ability to get this money back, in the future, but they have to take decisive action. They have to take decisive steps," she added.
"People have long asked, why don't you do more about Pakistan, and I think this sort of answers that question," she said. "They understand that, but still they aren't taking the steps that they need to take in order to fight terrorism," she said.
In an interaction with reporters, two senior state department officials insisted that such a move is not a punishment, but to provide an "incentive" to Pakistan to take more action against terrorist groups.
"We have not done anything that's irreversible here. All this funding is available to Pakistan, if they undertake to take the measures that we've asked of them," one official said.
"So we were hoping that this is an incentive that they don't want to see this relationship deteriorate any further..," he added.
The US and others have long complained that Pakistan offered safe haven to the Afghan Taliban and their allies, the Haqqani Network, allowing them to carry out cross-border attacks in Afghanistan. Pakistan denies allegations but President Trump has escalated the criticism against the country since he took office last January. On Thursday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had placed Pakistan on a special watch list for severe violations of religious freedom.
(With PTI inputs)
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