OBSERVER REPORT WASHINGTON The Trump administration has approved a resumption of Pakistan’s participation in a coveted US military training and educational programme more than a year after it was suspended, the State Department said on Thursday. The decision to resume Islamabad’s participation in the International Military Education and Training Programme, or IMET underscores warming relations that have followed meetings this year between US President Donald Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. Washington also has credited Islamabad with helping to facilitate negotiations on a US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. The talks recently resumed between the United States and the Taliban, who US officials allege receive sanctuary and other aid from Pakistan’s military-led intelligence agency. Pakistan denies the charge. The State Department administers IMET. It was a small facet of US security aid programmes for Pakistan worth some $2 billion that remain suspended on orders that Trump abruptly is-sued in January 2018 to compel the nucleararmed South Asian nation to crackdown on Islamist militants. Trump’s decision, announced in a tweet, blindsided US officials. A State Department spokeswoman said in an email that Trump’s 2018 decision to suspend security assistance authorised “narrow exceptions for programmess that support vital US national security interests.” The decision to restore Pakistani participation in IMET was “one such exception,” she said. The programme “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.” A second US official said on condition of anonymity that Pakistan was in the process of selecting officers to send to the United States. The restart of the programme, however, is subject to approval by Congress. Republican and Democratic aides for the Senate and House of Representatives committees with jurisdiction over the process did not immediately respond to requests for comment.— Reuters
