Pompeo defends $300 mn aid cut to Pak
Says it didn’t make satisfactory progress to fight terror
WASHINGTON, SEP 5: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has defended the Trump administration’s decision to cut USD 300 million aid to Pakistan, saying Islamabad did not make satisfactory progress in combatting terrorism.
Pompeo is arriving in Islamabad along with General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, days after the Trump administration cancelled USD 300 million in military aid to Pakistan as it was not doing enough against terrorist groups inside its borders, the latest controversy to hit Islamabad’s troubled relationship with Washington.
Pompeo’s talks will be the Trump administration’s first high-level dialogue with Pakistan since the new government of Prime Minister Imran Khan assumed office after the July 25 elections.
Talking to reporters travelling with him hours before landing in Pakistan, the Secretary of State said: “The rationale for them (Pakistan) not getting the money is very clear. It’s that we haven’t seen the progress that we need to see from them”.
The top American diplomat, during his meeting with Khan, army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, would convey the same message of acting tough on terrorist organisations in Pakistan.
