US to provide $900m under new mechanism to assist Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: After abandoning the existing mechanism of the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) for reimbursing the already-incurred expenditure to flush out militants, the US has put in place a new mechanism to assist Pakistan, with the provision of $900 million for the ongoing fiscal year with the condition that the fight with all terrorist groups will continue.
However, under the new mechanism put in place by Washington after the approval of its budget with effect from October 1, 2015, Pakistan’s assistance for combating terrorists has now been revised downwards from an annual average of $1.2 billion during the last decade to $900 million for the fiscal year 2015-16.
After becoming an ally of the US in its war against terror since 2001, Islamabad had lost $107 billion on the economic front as shown in the last Economic Survey 2014-15. However, Washington had provided a total of $16.681 billion to Pakistan in the shape of CSF and economic assistance as it reimbursed a total $13 billion since 2002 and provided $3.681 billion as economic assistance from 2001 to the fiscal year 2014-15.
Before his departure for the US along with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on his official visit, Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar confirmed to The News that the reimbursement mechanism under the CSF now ceased to exist after approval of the budget with

them to release last tranche of over $370 million under the old arrangement of CSF. “I convinced them to release the last tranche before ending their last financial year knowingly that under the new arrangement the release of due amount will be further delayed,” said the minister.
The minister said that US authorities would be giving name to the new mechanism. When asked about flaws in last mechanism owing to undue delay and reimbursing amount after long delay even after incurring expenditures by Pakistani side, the minister said that this question should be raised before those who had struck that arrangement with

US. “I had raised concerns several times for the sake of protecting country’s interest,” he added.
This scribe sent out written questions to spokesperson US Embassy here in Islamabad on Sunday and inquired whether US abandoned existing CSF reimbursement mechanism with Pakistan?
2) Has Congress approved $900 million after placing new mechanism for military assistance under new mechanism?
3) What are conditioned attached with it?
4) What will be the name of new assistance for military purposes?
The US spokesperson replied by stating “We are committed to supporting Pakistan’s efforts to eliminate terrorist threats in the border area and throughout Pakistan, and we welcome the consensus from the highest levels of the Pakistani government about the importance of combating all terrorists. The United States has delivered $13 billion in CSF since 2002. We continue to request additional reimbursements for Pakistan.”
The official sources said that Pakistan was asking Washington and its western allies to bestow the country with increasing trade and reduce reliance on aid. If Obama administration wants to help Islamabad then they will have to demonstrate generosity for providing level playing field to enhance Pakistan’s market access in US by inserting potential items into their concessionary regime of GSP for boosting exports and promoting investment that could generate job opportunities in Pakistan.