A Congressional report released earlier this week said that the security aid given by the US to Pakistan would remain suspended pending "decisive and irreversible" action against terrorist groups.

The report came ahead of Pakistan's Prime Minister <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/imran-khans-cost-cutting-us-visit-to-take-qatar-airways-flight-to-us-236985">Imran Khan's visit to the US</a> which is set to take place on July 21-24.

"The United States continues to press for 'decisive and irreversible action' against 'externally-focused militant groups and UN-designated terrorist organisations operating from its territory.' Pending such action, security assistance will remain suspended," the independent Congressional Research Service (CRS) stated in the report.

The CRS, known as US Congress's think tank is a public policy research wing, which prepares reports on issues of interest for lawmakers to make informed decisions. It directly works with Members of Congress, their Committees and staff on a confidential and nonpartisan basis.

Its reports are prepared by eminent experts of the field and are not considered as an official view of the Congress.

Ties between the US and Pakistan strained after President Donald Trump while announcing his Afghanistan and South Asia policy in August 2016, hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to "agents of chaos" that kill Americans in Afghanistan and warned Islamabad that it has "much to lose" by harbouring terrorists.

In November last year, Pentagon announced that it has suspended security assistance to Pakistan after Trump directed to do so.

"$1.66 billion of security assistance to Pakistan is suspended," Col Rob Manning, spokesman of the Department of Defence had said.

On November 19, Trump had said that Pakistan does not do "a damn thing" for the US while alleging that its government had helped al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden hide near its garrison city of Abbottabad.

In September 2017, the Trump administration cancelled $300 million in military aid to Islamabad for not doing enough against terror groups like the Haqqani Network and the Taliban active on its soil.

(With inputs from agencies)

A Congressional report released earlier this week said that the security aid given by the US to Pakistan would remain suspended pending "decisive and irreversible" action against terrorist groups.

A Congressional report released earlier this week said that the security aid given by the US to Pakistan would remain suspended pending "decisive and irreversible" action against terrorist groups. The report came ahead of Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to the US which is set to take place on July 21-24. "The United States continues to press for 'decisive and irreversible action' against 'externally-focused militant groups and UN-designated terrorist organisations operating from its territory.' Pending such action, security assistance will remain suspended," the independent Congressional Research Service (CRS) stated in the report. The CRS, known as US Congress's think tank is a public policy research wing, which prepares reports on issues of interest for lawmakers to make informed decisions. It directly works with Members of Congress, their Committees and staff on a confidential and nonpartisan basis. Its reports are prepared by eminent experts of the field and are not considered as an official view of the Congress. Ties between the US and Pakistan strained after President Donald Trump while announcing his Afghanistan and South Asia policy in August 2016, hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to "agents of chaos" that kill Americans in Afghanistan and warned Islamabad that it has "much to lose" by harbouring terrorists. In November last year, Pentagon announced that it has suspended security assistance to Pakistan after Trump directed to do so. "$1.66 billion of security assistance to Pakistan is suspended," Col Rob Manning, spokesman of the Department of Defence had said. On November 19, Trump had said that Pakistan does not do "a damn thing" for the US while alleging that its government had helped al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden hide near its garrison city of Abbottabad. In September 2017, the Trump administration cancelled $300 million in military aid to Islamabad for not doing enough against terror groups like the Haqqani Network and the Taliban active on its soil. (With inputs from agencies)

Security assistance to Pakistan to remain suspended: Congressional report ahead of Imran Khan's visit

The wheels are falling off Pakistan’s economy. Foreign exchange reserves are down to $8 billion, barely enough to cover two months of imports. Prime Minister Imran Khan is beginning to realise that he has been asked to drink from a poisoned chalice prepared by his mentor, the Pakistani military. During his election campaign, Imran had promised large investments in healthcare and infrastructure. The reality is that Pakistan is drowning in debt. While a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) seems inevitable, Pakistan is having second thoughts.

An IMF bailout comes with tough conditions. Two, in particular, have unnerved Imran Khan. First, the IMF said it would impose strict spending limits on new projects, including Khan’s pre-election pledge to invest heavily in healthcare and infrastructure. Second, the IMF would examine with a forensic microscope Pakistan’s various agreements in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). These have so far been a tightly kept secret.

He initially agreed to disclose CPEC details to the IMF, but later said Pakistan might not approach it for a bailout after all if Saudi Arabia (where Khan is currently attending a controversial investment conference) pitches in. The CPEC agreements, if disclosed, will reveal inflated costs, high-interest debt and kickbacks.

CPEC projects are a honeypot for the Pakistani military, which skims the cream off every business deal. The Chinese are alarmed that corrupt CPEC deals will show them as complicit, an embarrassment for a country where President Xi Jinping has built his leadership around an anti-corruption drive, jailing thousands of officials on charges of graft.

Even as Pakistan stares at an economic black hole, more bad tidings await it. In an article in Dawn, Pakistan’s leading daily, political scientist Moeed Yusuf wrote of a far-reaching change likely to take place in the India-Pakistan dynamic. He said that the growing economic and military differential between the two countries was growing so rapidly that India no longer considered it necessary to “appease” Pakistan by accepting its offer of talks.

Yusuf quoted Pakistani analysts as saying: “There are regular references to the growing economic and military differential between India and Pakistan and to comparisons with Nepal and Bangladesh when Pakistan is referenced. The mindset doesn’t reflect an India that feels a need to compromise with Pakistan anymore.”

The conclusion: Within a decade or less, Pakistan’s window of opportunity to negotiate a settlement on Kashmir will shut. The power differential would by then be unbreachable. Yusuf says Pakistan must, therefore, shift its focus from geo-politics to geo-economics. Translated, this means abandoning the jihadi factories aimed at India and focusing on the economy.

The complication, of course, is the Pakistani military. It has a vested interest in continuing a low-intensity, low-cost, low-casualty conflict with India to justify one of the world’s largest defence budgets measured as a ratio of GDP.

But even the Pakistani army can see the writing on the wall. It lost a gushing pipeline of funds from Saudi Arabia after it declined to send Pakistani troops to fight the Saudi-led war on Yemen. It is now beginning to lose confidence in China’s ability to replace the United States as an all-weather benefactor. China has been reluctant to lend significant funds to debt-laden Pakistan.

Pakistan’s predicament affords India an opportunity to get to grips with a country that has tried to bleed it for 70 years. Proxy terror attacks will not cease till Pakistan’s 10-year window of opportunity of make-believe parity finally shuts in its face. Indeed, as the economic and military power differential shifts inexorably in favour of India, terror attacks will spike in intensity and frequency, driven by the Pakistani military’s realisation that time is running out.

The military-jihad-mullah complex is so entrenched in Pakistan that Imran Khan will be utterly unable to dismantle it — a pre-requisite for transforming Pakistan’s economy. Besides, he can scarcely cut his umbilical cord with the army that delivered him to power.

Imran though has already failed on several fronts. He was forced to evict from his council of advisors a respected Princeton University-based economist Atif Mian because he is an Ahmadi, a sect reviled in Pakistan. Dozens of Ahmadis, regarded as apostates, are killed in Pakistan every year. Imran suffered another setback in last week’s bypolls where several candidates of his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lost, reducing the coalition government’s majority in the National Assembly and pointing to an early end to Khan’s electoral honeymoon.

India must now be resolute in rejecting a structured dialogue with Pakistan till its proxy terror attacks cease completely. Pakistan’s regional isolation is complete. SAARC has effectively been replaced with BIMSTEC. Afghanistan and Bangladesh have toxic relations with Pakistan. The Maldives is back in India’s camp after the recent elections.

Clashes on the Iran-Pakistan border have roiled relations between Tehran and Islamabad. Tension flared up last week when Iranian security guards were abducted by terrorists in Sistin-Balochistan bordering Pakistan. Iran has long blamed Pakistan-based terrorists for similar abductions in the past.

With China and Saudi Arabia no longer reliable friends, Pakistan’s era of jihadi terrorism will come to a close sooner than its India-obsessed army imagines. Pakistan’s search for false equivalence with India too will then meet a quiet burial.

(This article was originally published on DNA. Read the <a href="https://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-imran-khan-s-moment-of-truth-2678450">original article</a>)

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

The wheels are falling off Pakistan’s economy. Foreign exchange reserves are down to $8 billion, barely enough to cover two months of imports. Prime Minister Imran Khan is beginning to realise that he has been asked to drink from a poisoned chalice prepared by his mentor, the Pakistani military.

The wheels are falling off Pakistan’s economy. Foreign exchange reserves are down to $8 billion, barely enough to cover two months of imports. Prime Minister Imran Khan is beginning to realise that he has been asked to drink from a poisoned chalice prepared by his mentor, the Pakistani military. During his election campaign, Imran had promised large investments in healthcare and infrastructure. The reality is that Pakistan is drowning in debt. While a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) seems inevitable, Pakistan is having second thoughts. An IMF bailout comes with tough conditions. Two, in particular, have unnerved Imran Khan. First, the IMF said it would impose strict spending limits on new projects, including Khan’s pre-election pledge to invest heavily in healthcare and infrastructure. Second, the IMF would examine with a forensic microscope Pakistan’s various agreements in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). These have so far been a tightly kept secret. He initially agreed to disclose CPEC details to the IMF, but later said Pakistan might not approach it for a bailout after all if Saudi Arabia (where Khan is currently attending a controversial investment conference) pitches in. The CPEC agreements, if disclosed, will reveal inflated costs, high-interest debt and kickbacks. CPEC projects are a honeypot for the Pakistani military, which skims the cream off every business deal. The Chinese are alarmed that corrupt CPEC deals will show them as complicit, an embarrassment for a country where President Xi Jinping has built his leadership around an anti-corruption drive, jailing thousands of officials on charges of graft. Even as Pakistan stares at an economic black hole, more bad tidings await it. In an article in Dawn, Pakistan’s leading daily, political scientist Moeed Yusuf wrote of a far-reaching change likely to take place in the India-Pakistan dynamic. He said that the growing economic and military differential between the two countries was growing so rapidly that India no longer considered it necessary to “appease” Pakistan by accepting its offer of talks. Yusuf quoted Pakistani analysts as saying: “There are regular references to the growing economic and military differential between India and Pakistan and to comparisons with Nepal and Bangladesh when Pakistan is referenced. The mindset doesn’t reflect an India that feels a need to compromise with Pakistan anymore.” The conclusion: Within a decade or less, Pakistan’s window of opportunity to negotiate a settlement on Kashmir will shut. The power differential would by then be unbreachable. Yusuf says Pakistan must, therefore, shift its focus from geo-politics to geo-economics. Translated, this means abandoning the jihadi factories aimed at India and focusing on the economy. The complication, of course, is the Pakistani military. It has a vested interest in continuing a low-intensity, low-cost, low-casualty conflict with India to justify one of the world’s largest defence budgets measured as a ratio of GDP. But even the Pakistani army can see the writing on the wall. It lost a gushing pipeline of funds from Saudi Arabia after it declined to send Pakistani troops to fight the Saudi-led war on Yemen. It is now beginning to lose confidence in China’s ability to replace the United States as an all-weather benefactor. China has been reluctant to lend significant funds to debt-laden Pakistan. Pakistan’s predicament affords India an opportunity to get to grips with a country that has tried to bleed it for 70 years. Proxy terror attacks will not cease till Pakistan’s 10-year window of opportunity of make-believe parity finally shuts in its face. Indeed, as the economic and military power differential shifts inexorably in favour of India, terror attacks will spike in intensity and frequency, driven by the Pakistani military’s realisation that time is running out. The military-jihad-mullah complex is so entrenched in Pakistan that Imran Khan will be utterly unable to dismantle it — a pre-requisite for transforming Pakistan’s economy. Besides, he can scarcely cut his umbilical cord with the army that delivered him to power. Imran though has already failed on several fronts. He was forced to evict from his council of advisors a respected Princeton University-based economist Atif Mian because he is an Ahmadi, a sect reviled in Pakistan. Dozens of Ahmadis, regarded as apostates, are killed in Pakistan every year. Imran suffered another setback in last week’s bypolls where several candidates of his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lost, reducing the coalition government’s majority in the National Assembly and pointing to an early end to Khan’s electoral honeymoon. India must now be resolute in rejecting a structured dialogue with Pakistan till its proxy terror attacks cease completely. Pakistan’s regional isolation is complete. SAARC has effectively been replaced with BIMSTEC. Afghanistan and Bangladesh have toxic relations with Pakistan. The Maldives is back in India’s camp after the recent elections. Clashes on the Iran-Pakistan border have roiled relations between Tehran and Islamabad. Tension flared up last week when Iranian security guards were abducted by terrorists in Sistin-Balochistan bordering Pakistan. Iran has long blamed Pakistan-based terrorists for similar abductions in the past. With China and Saudi Arabia no longer reliable friends, Pakistan’s era of jihadi terrorism will come to a close sooner than its India-obsessed army imagines. Pakistan’s search for false equivalence with India too will then meet a quiet burial. (This article was originally published on DNA. Read the original article) (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Imran Khan’s moment of truth

A powerful Congressional committee has placed conditions on the release of $350 million financial aid to Pakistan for counter-terrorism operations to push Islamabad into taking action against the Haqqani network.

The Haqqani network has carried out a number of kidnappings and attacks against US interests in Afghanistan. The group linked to the Taliban is also blamed for several deadly attacks against Indian interests in Afghanistan including the 2008 bombing of the Indian mission in Kabul that killed 58 people.

Releasing the text of its version of the national defence authorisation (NDAA) bill, the House Armed Services Committee on Monday said that $350 million of the $700 million proposed financial assistance to Pakistan may not be released till the defence secretary certifies to Congress that Islamabad has taken actions against the Haqqani network militants.

According to the NDAA text running into more than 700 pages, it authorises $700 million in coalition support funds (CSF) to Pakistan. "Of that amount, not more than $350.0 million may be provided until the Secretary of Defence certified that Pakistan is taking demonstrable steps against the Haqqani network," it said.

The committee also authorised the president's budget request of $900 million for fiscal year 2019 for CSF payments.

In his new South Asia and Afghanistan policy in August, Trump had called for tougher measure against Pakistan if it fails to cooperate with the US in its fight against terrorism.&nbsp

Since January, the Trump administration has suspended its security assistance to Pakistan alleging that Islamabad has not been taking satisfactory actions against terrorist safe havens inside the country.

The aid suspended has not be relocated yet but has been kept aside for Pakistan to be used later if and when it starts taking actions against terrorists.&nbsp

Pakistan has repeatedly denied that there are any terrorist safe havens inside its territory. Both its officials in Islamabad and inside the United Nations in New York assert that there are no terrorist safe havens.

However, the top American leadership insists that there has been no change in Pakistani behaviour on this front that that it is fast running out of patience.

A powerful Congressional committee has placed conditions on the release of $350 million financial aid to Pakistan for counter-terrorism operations to push Islamabad into taking action against the Haqqani network

A powerful Congressional committee has placed conditions on the release of $350 million financial aid to Pakistan for counter-terrorism operations to push Islamabad into taking action against the Haqqani network. The Haqqani network has carried out a number of kidnappings and attacks against US interests in Afghanistan. The group linked to the Taliban is also blamed for several deadly attacks against Indian interests in Afghanistan including the 2008 bombing of the Indian mission in Kabul that killed 58 people. Releasing the text of its version of the national defence authorisation (NDAA) bill, the House Armed Services Committee on Monday said that $350 million of the $700 million proposed financial assistance to Pakistan may not be released till the defence secretary certifies to Congress that Islamabad has taken actions against the Haqqani network militants. According to the NDAA text running into more than 700 pages, it authorises $700 million in coalition support funds (CSF) to Pakistan. "Of that amount, not more than $350.0 million may be provided until the Secretary of Defence certified that Pakistan is taking demonstrable steps against the Haqqani network," it said. The committee also authorised the president's budget request of $900 million for fiscal year 2019 for CSF payments. In his new South Asia and Afghanistan policy in August, Trump had called for tougher measure against Pakistan if it fails to cooperate with the US in its fight against terrorism. Since January, the Trump administration has suspended its security assistance to Pakistan alleging that Islamabad has not been taking satisfactory actions against terrorist safe havens inside the country. The aid suspended has not be relocated yet but has been kept aside for Pakistan to be used later if and when it starts taking actions against terrorists. Pakistan has repeatedly denied that there are any terrorist safe havens inside its territory. Both its officials in Islamabad and inside the United Nations in New York assert that there are no terrorist safe havens. However, the top American leadership insists that there has been no change in Pakistani behaviour on this front that that it is fast running out of patience.

US Congressional committee seeks conditions on $350 million aid to Pakistan

The Pentagon said <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/us-seeks-real-action-from-pakistan-on-taliban-haqqani-network-36116">today that it won&#39;t resume security aid</a> to Pakistan until it addresses US concerns on terror safe havens.

&quot;The US government <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/pakistan-providing-covert-support-to-taliban-35966">has been very honest and open both publicly</a> and privately with Pakistan on the things that they need to address before we can move forward with the resumption of the aid that has been suspended,&quot; Lt Col Mike Andrews, a spokesperson of the Department of Defence told PTI.

Mike Andrews had recently visited Afganistan with US defense secretary James Mattis last week to review security in the region.

&quot;I won&#39;t get into real specifics. The sanctuaries inside of Pakistan where were Taliban fighters can go over the border, can attack and come back and be safe,&quot; Andrews said, adding,&quot;So if Pakistan does this, it would be good for Pakistan, Afghanistan, good for India, be good for the entire region.&quot;&nbsp;

&quot;That&#39;s what we want...a safe and secure region where terrorists cannot launch attacks like 9/11 or launch attacks into Europe or into India,&quot; he asserted.

In an attempt to keep the pressure on Pakistan, US Vice President Mike Pence had recently told&nbsp;Pakistan PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi that his country &quot;must do more&quot; against the Taliban and other militants as the relations between the two nations continued to on the boil.

The US government had suspended $1.5 security assistance to Pakistan in January accusing the Abbassi-led government of providing safe havens to Taliban and the Haqqani Network.

&quot;The US government has been very honest and open both publicly and privately with Pakistan on the things that they need to address before we can move forward with the resumption of the aid that has been suspended,&quot; Lt Col Mike Andrews said.

 
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Mike Andrews recently visited Afganistan with US defense secretary James Mattis last week to review security in the region.

The Pentagon said today that it won't resume security aid to Pakistan until it addresses US concerns on terror safe havens. "The US government has been very honest and open both publicly and privately with Pakistan on the things that they need to address before we can move forward with the resumption of the aid that has been suspended," Lt Col Mike Andrews, a spokesperson of the Department of Defence told PTI. Mike Andrews had recently visited Afganistan with US defense secretary James Mattis last week to review security in the region. "I won't get into real specifics. The sanctuaries inside of Pakistan where were Taliban fighters can go over the border, can attack and come back and be safe," Andrews said, adding,"So if Pakistan does this, it would be good for Pakistan, Afghanistan, good for India, be good for the entire region." "That's what we want...a safe and secure region where terrorists cannot launch attacks like 9/11 or launch attacks into Europe or into India," he asserted. In an attempt to keep the pressure on Pakistan, US Vice President Mike Pence had recently told Pakistan PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi that his country "must do more" against the Taliban and other militants as the relations between the two nations continued to on the boil. The US government had suspended $1.5 security assistance to Pakistan in January accusing the Abbassi-led government of providing safe havens to Taliban and the Haqqani Network. "The US government has been very honest and open both publicly and privately with Pakistan on the things that they need to address before we can move forward with the resumption of the aid that has been suspended," Lt Col Mike Andrews said.

No resumption of security aid until Pak addresses terror concerns: US