A secret Pakistani arms sales to the United States helped facilitate a controversial bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier this year, according to a report published by The Intercept, an online American non-profit news organization.
The arms sales were made for the purpose of supplying the Ukrainian military, signaling Pakistani involvement in a conflict it had faced US pressure to take sides on.
The report stated that the revelation is a window into the kind of behind-the-scenes maneuvering between financial and political elites that rarely are exposed to the public, even as the public pays the price, ANI reported, citing The Intercept.
Pakistan faced major protests in the face of harsh structural policy reforms demanded by the Washington-based financial body as terms for its recent bailout package.
There were several strikes in the country in response to the measures. The protests are the latest chapter in a year-and-a-half-long political crisis roiling the country.
U.S. helped Pakistan get IMF bailout with secret arms deal for Ukraine, leaked documents reveal https://t.co/a0zcy7et1T by @ryangrim, @mazmhussain https://t.co/a0zcy7et1T
— The Intercept (@theintercept) September 18, 2023
With the encouragement of the US, the Pakistani military in April 2022, helped organize a no-confidence vote to remove Prime Minister Imran Khan. Ahead of Khan’s ouster, US State Department diplomats privately expressed anger to their Pakistani counterparts over what they called Pakistan’s “aggressively neutral” stance on the Ukraine war under Khan.
They warned of dire consequences if Khan remained in power and promised “all would be forgiven” if he were removed. After Khan’s ouster, Islamabad emerged as a useful supporter of the US and its allies in the war, assistance that has now been repaid with an IMF loan, The Intercept reported.
