US to resume military training program for Pakistan
The United States will resume Pakistan's participation in a coveted US military training and educational program over a year after it was suspended, according to the State Department.
Pakistan will take part in the International Military Education and Training Program, or IMET, a pillar of US-Pakistan military relations, the department said on Thursday.
This is indicative of the warming of ties after meetings between President Donald Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan this year.
In August 2018, Trump suspended IMET, saying later that Washington had "foolishly given Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid over the last 15 years,” and the country had rewarded the previous US help with “nothing but lies & deceit.”
However, a State Department spokeswoman said Thursday in an email that Trump's 2018 decision authorized "narrow exceptions for programs that support vital US national security interests."
The decision to restore Pakistani participation in IMET was "one such exception," she said.
The program "provides an opportunity to increase bilateral cooperation between our countries on shared priorities," she added. "We want to continue to build on this foundation through concrete actions that advance regional security and stability."
The resumption of the program needs to be approved by Congress.
The US has also credited Pakistan with assisting in facilitating talks on a US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, according to a second US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Pakistan was in the process of choosing officers to send to the United States.
Last year’s suspension of Pakistan from the US government's IMET closed off places that had been set aside for Pakistani officers.
Pakistani officers were reportedly excluded from programs at the War College, the US army’s premier school for foreign officers as well as training courses at the US Naval War College and Naval Staff College.
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