Amidst tensions in bilateral ties, the US Congress has passed a defence spending bill capping its security-related aid to Pakistan at USD 150 million, significantly below the historic level of more than USD one billion per year. The National Defense Authorisation Act-2019 (NDAA-19), however, removes 'certain conditions' like action against Haqqani Network or the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) -- as was the case in the past few years for disbursement of US aid to Pakistan.

The Senate passed the conference report on NDAA-19 by 87 to 10 votes yesterday afternoon. The House of Representatives had passed the conference report last week. It now heads to the White House for President Donald Trump's assent. "The legislation reduces the total amount of funds provided for reimbursement to Pakistan to USD 150 million. This is a significant reduction from the USD 700 million that was authorised through Coalition Support Fund (CSF) last year," Anish Goel, who was part of Barack Obama's White House National Security Council, told PTI.