US weighs withholding $255M in aid to Pakistan

The Trump administration might withhold $225 million in government aid to Pakistan over frustration with the country’s handling of terror groups within its borders.

Administration officials met this month to decide whether to cancel the aid, officials told The New York Times in a report published Friday. The aid package was already delayed in August.

A final decision is expected to come in the next few weeks, officials said. They did not detail what conditions Pakistan would have to meet to receive the aid. 

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U.S. officials have long expressed frustration with Pakistan, accusing the government of being slow to stamp out terrorist networks.

Trump has raised pressure on Pakistan. In August, he unveiled a new U.S. strategy for the war in Afghanistan aimed at defeating the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network, an affiliated group that operates in Pakistan.

Trump at the time said Pakistan “gives safe haven to agents of chaos, violence and terror” and vowed the administration would be tougher on the country. 

Defense Secretary James Mattis previously stalled a $50 million aid package to the country in July by withholding a certification that Pakistan had done enough to fight the Haqqani Network.

The certification is required by Congress for the yearly military grant made to Pakistan, a nation classified as a major non-NATO U.S. ally.

Pakistan “did not take substantial action against the Afghan Taliban or [the Haqqani Network], or substantially limit their ability to threaten U.S. interests in Afghanistan,” an annual State Department report on terrorism said.