The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on six individuals with links to the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani Network, specially stressing on their links to Pakistan, as well.

The US Treasury Department took action to “expose and disrupt the financing” of the two outfits by naming the six Specially Designated Global Terrorists. It asked Pakistan to work with the US “to deny the Taliban and the Haqqani Network sanctuary and to aggressively target their terrorist fundraising”.

The move comes weeks after the US, on January 4, suspended military aid to Pakistan and demanded “decisive action” against the factions of the Taliban based in the country. The US action came days after President Donald Trump claimed Pakistan had given his country nothing but “lies and deceit” in return for $33 billion (Rs 2.10 lakh crore) in aid over the last 15 years.

The US Treasury Department said Abdul Samad Sani, Abdul Qadeer Basir Abdul Baseer, Hafiz Mohammed Popalzai and Maulawi Inayatullah were designated as terrorists for working on behalf of the Taliban, while Faqir Muhammad and Gula Khan Hamidi faced sanctions for acting on behalf of the Haqqani Network. All their property under US jurisdiction will be blocked, and US citizens will be prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

“We are targeting six individuals related to the Taliban or Haqqani Network who have been Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Sigal Mandelker said these six were targeted for being “involved in attacks on coalition troops, smuggling of individuals, or financing these terrorist groups.

Meanwhile, Republican Party Senator Rand Paul introduced a legislation that proposes reallocating the more than $2 billion that was meant for civilian assistance to Pakistan to developing highways in Washington. On Wednesday, he said the money should be used “to help rebuild our infrastructure instead of giving it to a nation that persecutes Christians and imprisons people such as the doctor that helped us get Osama bin Laden”.