Pakistan's decision to halt military and intelligence cooperation with the United States of America came in the wake of the U.S. suspending approximately $900 million worth of security assistance in Coalition Support Funds to the country and President Donald Trump’s statements accusing Islamabad of giving a “safe haven” to terrorists.
Speaking at a security conference at the Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad on Tuesday, Pakistani Defense Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan announced that Pakistan suspended military and intelligence cooperation with the United States in the wake of President Donald Trump's accusations against the country.
“The U.S. was using Pakistan as a ‘scapegoat’ for its failures in war-torn Afghanistan. Pakistan does not want to put a price on its sacrifices but wants them to be recognized," Pakistani media quoted Khan as saying.
Richard Snelsire, the spokesperson of the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad in turn refuted the defense minister and said, “We have not received any formal communication regarding a suspension.”
Pentagon spokesperson Col. Robert Manning on Monday announced that approximately $900 million U.S. aid to Pakistan for counterterrorism operations would not be sent forth until Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis was convinced that Pakistan was not harboring terrorist groups.
“That amount has been suspended, not cancelled or reprogrammed, as we continue to hope that Pakistan will take decisive action against the terrorist and militant groups that we seek,” Manning said.
“The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more,” Trump wrote in a Twitter post on Jan.1.
Pakistan and the U.S. have been conducting a strategic alliance after the 9/11 attacks and the U.S. has utilized Pakistan’s territory in its fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
