US likely to toughen conditions for civil, military aid to Pakistan

Pakistan's support to the fight against Haqqani network and other homegrown militant groups will be reviewed

A proposal has been submitted for consideration before a key Congressional panel of the United States to make the civil and military aid to Pakistan conditional to Islamabad’s support to the fight against the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network and other homegrown militant groups.

The relationship between the two countries has been strained at times, with some in Washington believing Islamabad has not done enough to bring its influence to bear to persuade the Afghan Taliban to renounce violence. The draft bill titled 2018 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations was placed for deliberation before members of the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday.

Pakistan has received billions in US aid since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. The Haqqani network, based in the border areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan, has long been thought to have ties to the military establishment of Pakistan.



The bill, which provides $47.4 billion in both regular discretionary and Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding, asks US secretary of state to certify that “Pakistan is cooperating with the US in counterterrorism efforts against the Haqqani Network, the Quetta Shura Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad, al-Qaeda, and other domestic and foreign terrorist organisations, including taking effective steps to end support for such groups and prevent them from basing and operating in Pakistan and carrying out cross border attacks into neighboring countries.”

It requires the secretary of state to certify that “Pakistan is not supporting terrorist activities against the US or coalition forces in Afghanistan” and the country’s military and intelligence agencies are not intervening extra-judicially into political and judicial processes.

It further requires the secretary of state to certify that Pakistan is not financing or otherwise supporting schools supported by, affiliated with, or run by the Taliban or any designated foreign terrorist organisation and that Islamabad is preventing the proliferation of nuclear-related material and expertise.



The bill demands that the funds appropriated under the ‘Foreign Military Financing Programme’ for Pakistan’s assistance can only be used to support counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations in the country. “The Secretary of State should suspend assistance for the Government of Pakistan if any report required by clause (i) indicates that Pakistan is failing to make measurable progress in meeting such goals or benchmarks,” it states.