WASHINGTON _ The Pentagon will withhold $50 million in reimbursements to Pakistan because it was unable to verify that Islamabad conducted adequate counterterrorism operations against the Haqqani network, a hard-line branch of the Taliban, officials said Friday.
The decision comes as the Trump administration considers a tougher stance against Pakistan, an ostensible ally, as part of a new military strategy for the nearly 16-year-old war in neighboring Afghanistan.
Despite the $50 million cut, Pakistan received $550 million in U.S. aid in the last fiscal year for operations against militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, or FATA, a rugged northwest region where the central government has limited control.
"This is simply an assessment on the current state of play," Defense Secretary James N. Mattis told a Pentagon news conference. "We're just defining the reality."
Washington has urged Pakistan to step up counterterrorism operations against the Haqqani network for more than a decade with limited success.
The militants use Pakistan's rugged tribal regions as sanctuary to launch assaults on U.S. and allied troops battling Taliban fighters across the border in Afghanistan.
Under U.S. law, the secretary of defense is required to certify that Pakistan has taken aggressive action against the Haqqani network. Last year, the Pentagon held back $300 million in funds for not pursuing the group.
The U.S. reimburses foreign governments for the cost of military operations against certain militant groups under a program called the Coalition Support Fund.
Pakistan has been the largest beneficiary, taking in more than $14 billion since 2002.
"Pakistan's efforts have reduced the ability of some militant groups to use North Waziristan and the FATA as a safe haven for terrorism," Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump said. "However, the Taliban and the Haqqani Network continue to operate in other locations in Pakistan."
Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Pakistan's ambassador in Washington, said in a statement it "is a well-known fact that Pakistan's counterterrorism efforts have resulted in a significant decline in terrorists' attacks."
Without naming the Haqqani network, he pointed to Pakistan's recent counterterror operations aimed at routing militant groups from the tribal areas.
"Pakistan has been a victim of terrorism and has paid a staggering human and financial cost over the past decade," he said.
U.S. relations with Pakistan have been fraught for years, and nose dived after U.S. Navy Seals secretly flew into the country in 2011 and killed al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden at a compound in Abbottabad, a garrison town for the Pakistani military.
The Haqqanis have been a potent fighting force for years and U.S. officials believe they played a role in the Taliban's recent resurgence in Afghanistan.
The Taliban holds more ground in Afghanistan today than at any point since the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001, according to recent United Nations estimates.
The Haqqani network dates back to the 1980s when Jalaluddin Haqqani organized fighters against Soviet troops that then occupied Afghanistan. He had links with Pakistani intelligence and the CIA, which both supported anti-Soviet militias.
Haqqani reportedly died in 2014 though it's never been confirmed. His son Sirajuddin now leads the group.
The CIA launched thousands of drone strikes along the Afghan border in northwest Pakistan in the years after the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
U.S. officials believe those attacks killed numerous Haqqani leaders and forced its operatives into hiding, hampering the group's ability to carry out attacks.
The CIA drone strikes, which were widely unpopular in Pakistan, largely stopped by late last year. They have resumed under President Donald Trump as Afghanistan has suffered an alarming increase in terrorist attacks, especially in Kabul, the capital.
U.S. officials believe the Haqqanis were behind a massive bombing in Kabul that killed nearly 100 people in May. The group has not claimed responsibility, however.
