US resumes Pakistan military training program

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AA) - Washington has resumed a military training program with Pakistan, U.S. officials said.

The announcement on Friday said that the International Military Education and Training Program (IMET) came just hours after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke to Pakistani Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa to discuss the killing of senior Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani.

"To strengthen mil2mil [military to military] cooperation on shared priorities & advance US national security, @POTUS [President of The United States] authorized the resumption of International Military Education and Training #IMET for Pakistan. The overall security assistance suspension for Pakistan remains in effect, " the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State said on Twitter.

The IMET program was suspended in 2018, after Pakistan and Russia signed an agreement to allow Pakistani military officers to receive training in Russian military institutions.

In May 2018, the U.S. State Department suspended most of its security aid, delivery of military equipment or transfer security-related funds to Pakistan after claiming that Pakistan provided safe haven for terrorists in Afghanistan, which Islamabad had denied.

However, In July 2019, the U.S. approved $125 million to provide Pakistan with technical support for its fleet of F-16 aircraft, after Prime Minister Imran Khan's first official visit to Washington.