The issue of CSF proceeds

Business Recorder op-ed writer Andleeb Abbas has done us a great favour by explaining to us what actually constitutes the US aid, lending and reimbursement. In her last write-up, she has argued, among other things the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) proceeds have had a strange history. “However, CSF is neither aid, nor grant, nor loan. This is not money we owe to the US, this is money America owes to us. This is not a favour that US government is bestowing on us rather it is a favour that Pakistan was giving to America to fight its war in Afghanistan. These are accounts payable by US to Pakistan against unpaid service charges. These are defaults of payments against which advanced services were rendered. Unfortunately, neither US nor Pakistan has ever portrayed it as anything but aid upon which the Pakistani government and military should be grateful about.” But the question is why hasn’t the PTI government raised the CSF issue with the visiting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo?

The writer, who belongs to PTI, ought to give a plausible answer to this question as well. Deciding not to raise this issue with the US Secretary of State because this is a “past and closed transaction” doesn’t justify the government’s stance at all.

Lahore Farooq Qureshi