US lawmakers are mulling using a defence policy bill to increase restrictions on military aid for Pakistan, defence experts said. Defence expert Lt. General Talat Masood (retd) told Business Recorder that Pakistan's foreign policy has become a bit complex and the country has to decide to what extent it wants to develop its relationship with US administration. "If you desire good relations with the US then you cannot keep good relations with the Taliban and the Haqani network," he added.
He further stated that it is extremely important for Pakistan to have a government-to-government relationship rather than with non-state actors.
Relations with the US are under stress for the past three months in the aftermath of the Obama administration's decision not to urge Congress to reconsider the withdrawal of subsidies for sale of F-16s to Pakistan as well as the more recent conditions Washington attached to release of Shakil Afridi and evidence of action against the Haqqani network prior to releasing financial assistance.
The US $602 billion (£412.2 billion) National Defense Authorisation Act (NDAA) passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday will block US $450 million in aid to Islamabad unless it does more to fight the Haqqani network, which lawmakers see as a major threat to US forces in Afghanistan.
In a Senate Session, Chairman Raza Rabbani termed the relationship between Pakistan and United States as unbalanced and expressed concern at US' overt tilt towards India.
On May 18, 2016, at the meeting of Quadrilateral Co-ordination Group (QCG), Afghanistan expressed reservations against Pakistan for trying to arrange peace talks with the Taliban. Kabul stated that Pakistan needs to honour its commitments to take action against militant groups operating from within Pakistan - groups including the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network that Afghanistan and the United States allege operate out of Pakistan to launch violent attacks in Afghanistan.
Sources said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had asked senior officials including Sartaj Aziz and Tariq Fatemi to counter the Indian lobby in Washington and work towards improving relations. At this moment, the signals emanating from Washington are not very positive, they maintained.