US military has cancelled $300m of Pakistan aid due to Pakistan’s failure to take action against religious militants.
According to the details, President Donald Trump had accused Pakistan in his first tweet of 2018, that Pakistan had been deceiving the US while receiving billions of dollars.
Pentagon spokesman Lt Col Koné Faulkner said the US military would aim to spend the money on other “urgent priorities”.
The move, which needs to be approved by US Congress, is part of a broader suspension which was announced in January.
“Due to a lack of Pakistani decisive actions in support of the South Asia Strategy, the remaining $300m was reprogrammed,” Pentagon spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Kone Faulkner said on Saturday.
“We continue to press Pakistan to indiscriminately target all terrorist groups,” said Faulkner before adding that the aid amount would be used on “other urgent priorities” following Congress’ approval.
The disclosure comes just days before US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is due to visit Pakistan to meet the country’s new prime minister, Imran Khan.
In January, In response to President Trump’s policy tweet, The US government had announced it was cutting almost all security aid to the country.
The US and others have long complained that Pakistan provides a safe haven to militant networks, allowing them to carry out cross-border attacks in Afghanistan – something that Islamabad denies.
There was no immediate comment from Pakistan on the latest funding cut.