The US to Restart Military Training for Pak, But Keeps Security Assistance Suspended
US President Donald Trump (R) shakes hands with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan (L) during a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, September 23, 2019. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)
The continuation of the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program also created the assumption that the US visualized a role for Pakistan in dealing with the conflicts caused by Soleimani’s assassination.
US President Donald Trump has decided to restart a military training program for Pakistan that was discontinued in 2018 but has retained a suspension in security-related aid.
The recommencement of the International Military Education and Training (IMET) for Pakistan was asserted through a tweet by principal deputy assistant secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells early on Saturday morning. It was tweeted about seven hours later when the secretary of state Mike Pompeo called Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Bajwa to converse the consequences of the assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.
The IMET program for Pakistan is perceived by US officials as a key trust-building measure that was withdrawn in August 2018. It was withdrawn months after Trump famously declared the deferral of some $2 billion in security assistance in a New Year’s Day tweet.
In that tweet, Trump had blamed Pakistan of giving the US nothing but dishonesty and deceitfulness in return for more than 33 billion dollars assistance over the last 15 years. He had also given safe refuge to the terrorists that the US was chasing in Afghanistan.
The United States has idiotically given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars assistance over the last 15 years. In return, Pakistan has given nothing but deception.
Pompeo, who spent Friday reaching out to his counterparts in the UK, Germany, France, and Russia, and the Afghan and Iraqi presidents, decided on to contact Pakistan’s military leadership and not the civilian administration headed by Imran Khan. The contact was made to discuss the outcome of the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the Major General of the al-Quds Force foreign operations wing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The US secretary of state tweeted that he had spoken to the Pakistan Army chief about U.S. defensive action to kill Qassem Soleimani. He added that the Iran regime’s actions in the region are threatening and we determine to protect American interests, personnel, facilities, and partners.
Bajwa, according to the Pakistani military’s media arm, highlighted to Pompeo the need for maximum limitation and useful engagement by all concerned to improve the situation in the broader interest of peace and stability. Bajwa also repeated the requirement for maintaining focus on the success of the Afghan Peace Process.
