US caps security aid to Pakistan at $150 million

August 02, 2018 08:02

The United States Congress has passed the National Defense Authorisation Act-2019 which capped its security-related aid to Pakistan to $150 million, significantly below the historic level of more than $one billion to $750 million per year.

This year's defense legislation, however, removes certain conditions like action against Haqqani network or Lashkar-e-Tayiba -- as was the case in the past few years for disbursement of US aid to Pakistan.

The Senate passed the conference report on NDAA-19 by 87 to 10 votes. The House of Representatives had passed the conference report last week. It now heads to the White House for President Donald Trump's assent.

"The legislation reduces the total amount of funds provided for reimbursement to Pakistan to USD 150 million. This is a significant reduction from the $700 million that was authorised through Coalition Support Fund last year," said Anish Goel, who was part of Barack Obama's White House National Security Council.

However, in doing so, the legislation gets rid of the certification requirements for Pakistan's action against the Haqqani Network and it also gets rid of the authority to reimburse Pakistan for counter-terrorism, he said.

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