Pakistan on Tuesday received some $336 million from the United States for its ongoing role in combating a Taliban insurgency in neighbouring Afghanistan.
The injection of cash, which comes as the Taliban steps up its annual summer offensive launched in late April, has helped Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves reach a fresh high of about $19 billion, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) officials said.
Regular payments to Pakistan under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) programme began in 2001 when Pakistan joined the US-led coalition in Afghanistan as a “front-line ally”.
Pakistan provides use of its air bases and other facilities in exchange for the reimbursements.
The central SBP in a one-line press note said it had received a total of $336.8 million under the CSF programme, which is the first tranche of a $1.5 billion for the current fiscal year ending June 2016.
Pakistan has received a total of $13 billion in CSF payments since the programme began.
