In another embarrassment for Pakistan, Republican Congressman Andy Biggs on the first day of the 117th Congress has introduced a bill in the US House of Representatives to terminate the designation of Pakistan as a Major non-NATO ally, reports The Hindustan Times.
If the bill is passed, it will remove Pakistan’s designation as a major non-NATO ally which has allowed many benefits for years such as access to excess US defense supplies and participation in cooperative defense research and development projects.
Police of US's major non NATO ally #Pakistan @POTUS pic.twitter.com/yOVPjHmwZt
— Yusuf Unjhawala 🇮🇳 (@YusufDFI) August 6, 2016
The bill introduced in the Congress has a provision wherein the US President cannot issue a separate designation of Pakistan as a major NATO ally, unless a presidential certification that Pakistan continues to conduct military operations that are contributing to significantly disrupting the safe haven and freedom of movement of the Haqqani Network in Pakistan.
The bill also seeks a presidential certification that Pakistan took steps and prove its commitment to prevent the Haqqani Network from using any Pakistani territory as a safe haven and that the Pak government actively coordinates with Afghanistan to restrict the movement of militants, such as the Haqqani Network, along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
The bill also asks the president to certify that Pakistan has actively tried to arrest and prosecute Haqqani Network senior leaders and mid-level operatives.
The Haqqani Network, an offshoot of the Taliban is one of the most powerful Islamic terrorist organisation with its base of operations in Pakistan which allows them to carry out terror attacks in Afghanistan. However, the Pakistani Army considers this group as one of its non-state assets and if this bill makes a further push, it will bring a lot of heat on an already beleaguered Prime Minister Imran Khan. Niazi
Pakistan was named a Major non-NATO in 2004 after America invaded Afghanistan after the 9/11 terror attacks carried out by Al Qaeda. Also, in December, the Sindh High Court had ordered the release of Omar Saeed Sheikh who was arrested for murdering Wall Street Journal reporter, Daniel Pearl.
Being a non-NATO ally gives any nation huge advantage as they will get to enjoy access into cooperative research and development projects with the Department of Defense (DoD) on a shared-cost basis, participation in certain counter-terrorism initiatives, purchase of depleted uranium anti-tank rounds, priority delivery of military surplus (ranging from rations to ships), export processing of space technology and permission for the country’s corporations to bid on certain DoD contracts for the repair and maintenance of military equipment outside the United States.
However, besides getting some upgraded F-16 fighter jets with some strict protocols of its use, Pakistan never really was able to exploit the technology and resources after being designated as a non-NATO ally. India, however, is now a US-designated Major Defense Partner and this happened under the Obama Administration.
In January 2018, President Trump suspended all financial and security assistance to Pakistan and it even considered terminating the designation of Pakistan as a Major non-NATO ally.