The US State Department has said that key Congress members are not prepared to support military aid to Pakistan.
Elizabeth Trudeau, Director Office of Press Relations State Department said at a daily press briefing on Thursday, “I will note key members of Congress have been clear they’re not prepared to support US military aid to Pakistan absent some specific actions.”
She was answering a question on whether the House Armed Services Committee had increased the condition for the release of Coalition Support Funds until the US State Department certifies that Islamabad has taken appropriate action against the Haqqani Network.
“We’ve spoken about our views on Haqqani quite a bit as well as what we view Pakistan needs to do.”
Trudeau said Pakistan has spoken that they would not discriminate against militant groups. “We could encourage them to continue to live up to that,” she added.
She parried a question in connection with financing of F-16 aircraft.
Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz on Thursday admitted there was a ‘stalemate’ in relations with Washington during the last three months.
“A glimpse of it is seen in the US Congress decision of denying subsidy on the sale of F-16 jets to Pakistan,” he said while winding up a debate in Senate.
He said Islamabad would take up the issue of the financing of F-16 fighter jets with the US authorities during talks from May 30 and June 3.
