US sanctions to be counter-productive, says PM Abbasi

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said it would be counter-productive for the United States to sanction Pakistani officials or further cut military assistance, warning it would hurt both countries’ fight against militancy.

“We are fighting the war against terror, anything that degrades our effort will only hurt the US effort,” Premier Abbasi said in an interview with Reuters in Islamabad on Monday.

He said US-Pakistan relations have frayed since President Donald Trump last month set out a new Afghanistan policy and lashed out at nuclear-armed Pakistan as a fickle ally that gives safe haven to “agents of chaos” by harboring the Afghan Taliban and other militants.

The United States has already begun conditioning future aid to Pakistan on progress Islamabad makes in tackling the Haqqani network, who it alleges are Pakistan-based and have helped the Taliban carry out deadly attacks inside Afghanistan, he added.

PM Abbasi said that Pakistan denies hosting militant sanctuaries, and Islamabad bristles at claims it has not done enough to tackle militancy, noting it has borne the brunt of violence in the so-called war on terror, suffering more than 60,000 casualties since 2001.

The premier said that any targeted sanctions by Washington against the Pakistani military and intelligence officials would not help US counter-terrorism efforts.

US officials privately say the targeted sanctions would be aimed at Pakistani officials with ties to extremist groups and are part of an array of options being discussed to pressure Pakistan to change its behavior, including further aid cuts, he said.