U.S. withholds Pak reimbursement over Haqqani network: Pentagon

TIL Desk/World/Washington/ The United States will withhold $50 million remaining in military reimbursements to Pakistan for fiscal year 2016 because Defense Secretary Jim Mattis believes that Islamabad has not done enough to blunt the Islamist militant Haqqani network, a U.S. official said on Friday.

The decision was not the first time that the Pentagon has declined to make military reimbursements to Pakistan. Last year, it withheld $300 million. Pakistan has been reimbursed $550 million of the $900 million it was authorized to receive in fiscal year 2016.

Of the rest, $300 million had already been reprogrammed for other purposes, but had not been previously reported. Mattis’ latest decision affects the remaining $50 million.

Relations between the two countries have been frayed over the past decade, with U.S. officials frustrated by what they term Pakistan’s unwillingness to act against Islamist groups such as the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network.