Abrar Hussain: US President Donald Trump signed the $716 billion National Defense Authorization Act 2019 into a law yesterday, which will amend the Combating America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), under which any entity doing business with Russia’s state, semi-state and private defense and intelligence sectors could face economic sanctions.

The sanctions seek to punish Russia for its alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential elections. It also threatened sanctions against third-party countries who buy a significant portion of their military equipment from Russia.

Most significantly for India, Trump’s signing of the National Defense Authorization Act-2019 will enable India to buy the S-400 air defense missile system from Russia without the threat of US sanctions. India wishes to buy five of the air defense systems.

The National Defense Authorization Act will also cut US security aid to Pakistan to $150 million, down from the billions it received earlier for its counter-terror campaign and assistance in the Afghan war.

The bill provides about $616.9 billion for the base Pentagon budget, $21.9 billion for nuclear weapons and $69 billion in war funding.

After being approved by the House, the bill was passed 87 to 10 in the Senate on August 1.

-Source: WIO News