Amid calls to declare Pakistan a ‘hostile state’, US curtails aid, withholds Sharif invite to Washington

WASHINGTON: Pakistan's bottomfeeding on American aid is about to end unless it terminates its policy of covertly using terrorism to further its frontiers, the Obama administration has conveyed to Islamabad, amid indications that the US is also making Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's proposed visit to Washington conditional to meeting this objective.

A key administration official on Thursday said there has been no announcement about a Sharif visit to Washington in October although the trip had been widely reported in the Pakistani media based on briefings from diplomats in Islamabad. "This is news to me. We have not made any statements about that (Sharif's visit to Washington)," Peter Lavoy, special assistant to the US president and senior director for south asian affairs at the national security council of the White House, told PTI. "If it is pakka (final) you would be the first to hear."

The rethink — or at least holding back the announcement — of the visit comes after the administration conveyed to Islamabad that it will not certify the effectiveness of Pakistan counterterrorism operation to Congress to enable passage of the Coalition Support Fund (CSF), the military reimbursement aid that goes towards keeping Pakistan solvent. - Read More at indiatimes

Amid calls to declare Pakistan a ‘hostile state’, US curtails aid, withholds Sharif invite to Washington