Trump wants to cut military aid to Pak, increase troops in Afghanistan: US

United States President Donald Trump wants to cut off all military aid to Pakistan as he thinks that the Washington is being ripped off by Islamabad.

According to Foreign Policy report, US is considering to increase troop levels up to 15,000 in Afghanistan as part of the new strategy, which also would change the US relationship with Pakistan significantly.

The report quoted a White House official as saying that "the President thinks we're being ripped off by Pakistan. The president wants to cut off all military aid to Pakistan. That's part of the strategy".

The report further said the Pentagon has already frozen support to Islamabad under the coalition support fund, which provides payments to Pakistan for supporting counterterrorism operations.

 

This move is being considered due to Pakistan's constant support to insurgent group Taliban. However, US wants to ensure the survival of the Afghan government by ending the war in the country by negotiating with the Taliban.

This move is triggered by Pakistan's insufficient actions against the Haqqani network, an insurgent group based in Afghanistan, US Defense Secretary James Mattis said.

Currently, around 8,400 US soldiers are deployed in Afghanistan.

Terming Afghanistan issue as 'a mess' that he took over from the previous administration; Trump had said that his administration is getting close to a decision on an updated strategy for the war in Afghanistan.

US Defense Secretary James Mattis had also hinted that President Trump is "very close" to making a decision on the strategy.

"We're sharpening each one of the options so you can see the pluses and minuses of each one so that there's no longer any new data you're going to get. Now [he can] just make the decision," Mattis said.

Earlier, reports had emerged that the US administration may consider outsourcing the war management in Afghanistan to a private firm.