U.S. President Donald Trump’s New Year tweet is indicative that his administration is not satisfied by Pakistan’s response on terror. A month ago, U.S. Secretary of Defence James Mattis had told Pakistan during a visit that it “must redouble its efforts to confront militants and terrorists operating within the country”, according to a Pentagon statement.
There was significant scaling down of U.S. assistance to Pakistan in the later years of the Barack Obama administration. From $2.177 billion in 2014, it came down to $1.604 in 2015 and $1.118 billion in 2016. In 2017, it was $526 million.
The U.S. has also made disbursement of Pentagon’s Coalition Support Funds (CSF) conditional.
CSF pertains to reimbursement to Pakistan for its logistical and operational support for U.S.-led military operations.
In 2015, $300 million of the CSF was tied to a certification requirement that Pakistan was taking adequate action against the Haqqani network. That component increased in the following years — in 2016 it was $350 million out of $900 million and, in 2017, it was $400 million out of $900 million.
The Obama administration did not certify in Pakistan’s favour in 2015 and 2016. A decision by the Trump administration for 2017 is pending.
The defence budget for 2018 reduced the CSF allocation to $700 million and tied half of it to action against the Haqqani Network. A recent congressional move to include Lashkar-e-Taiba also in the same category of certification requirement was dropped after the Pentagon resisted it.
Unveiling his strategy for Afghanistan in August 2018, Mr. Trump had censured Pakistan and named India as a partner. “We can no longer be silent about Pakistan’s safe havens for terrorist organisations, the Taliban, and other groups that pose a threat to the region and beyond,” he had said.
