Pakistan disputes US claim that it has canceled aid

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

Islamabad on Sunday disputed the U.S. claim that it had canceled aid to Pakistan.

Earlier on Sunday, the U.S. and Pakistani media reported that Pentagon has decided to cancel $300 million in aid to Pakistan over alleged failure to take decisive action against militant groups.

"It was no aid which the Pentagon has decided to cancel but it was our money that we spent from our own resources and now Washington has to reimburse," Qureshi explained.

"Pakistan has sacrificed thousands of lives and spent huge amounts from their own resources against terrorism and now U.S. had to reimburse that amount under the Coalition Support Fund," Shah Mehmood Qureshi, foreign minister of Pakistan told the reporters in the capital city Islamabad.

The foreign minister added that he would take this issue up with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's during his visit to Islamabad on Sept. 5.

“Currently Pakistan and U.S. ties are suspended but we will try to improve ties between Islamabad and Washington during Secretary Pompeo's upcoming visit to Islamabad,” Qureshi hoped.

Relations between the two allies in the war against terrorism have deteriorated since January, last year, after U.S. President Donald Trump assumed office, mainly because of a clash of interests in war-torn Afghanistan.

Washington accuses Islamabad of providing a safe haven to the powerful Haqqni network, which is blamed for numerous brazen attacks on foreign forces in Afghanistan.

However, Pakistan denies the charges and said it needed acknowledgment of its sacrifices in the war on terror.