US to resume military training for Pak, security assistance remains on hold

Washington: The Trump administration has approved the resumption of its military training programme for Pakistani security personnel at the American institutions, a top American diplomat said here on Friday.

However, the overall security assistance suspension for Pakistan remains in effect, the diplomat said.

President authorized the IMET for Pakistan, the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Alice G Wells, tweeted on Friday, the day Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke over phone with the Pak Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa to discuss the situation in the region in the aftermath of the killing of General Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards.

It will “strengthen” military to military cooperation between the two countries on “shared priorities,” she said.

The Trump administration had in August 2018 suspended the more than a decade-long International Military Education and Training (IMET) programme for Pakistani personnel at the US institutions, days after Islamabad and Moscow signed an agreement to allow Pakistani troops to receive training at the Russian defence centres.