Pakistan Rebukes United States; Claims Washington Owes 300 Million Dollars To Islamabad For Its Support In Fighting Terror

Islamabad, September 3: Pakistan on Sunday claimed that the USD 300 million aid which the Pentagon had decided to scrap was the money the United States owed to Islamabad for its support in the war on terror. Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that the US was supposed to reimburse it which they had not done. Pakistan has will also take up the matter during Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's upcoming visit to the nation.

Mehmood also claimed that The USD 300 million is neither aid nor assistance it is the money Pakistan spent from its resources against militants and in the war against terrorism. He demanded that the US should pay back this money as it was spent on the common objective to fight terrorism.

The US on Saturday announced that it would cancel USD 300 million aid to Pakistan over its failure to take actions against terror groups. The US and others have long complained that Pakistan provides safe haven to militant networks, allowing them to carry out cross-border attacks in Afghanistan. The move to cancel the aid is still to be approved by the US Congress. The US President Donald Trump has been tough on Pakistan for its inability to fight terrorism.

In August last year, Trump unveiled his new South Asia policy and asked Pakistan to do more against such groups. The US in January this year had also suspended more than USD 1.15 billion security assistance to Pakistan. The US State Department had criticised Pakistan in the past, for failing to deal with the Haqqani network and the Afghan Taliban operating from its soil.

(With agency inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 03, 2018 01:49 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).