WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has threatened to stop all aid to Pakistan accusing Islamabad of harbouring terrorists US is hunting in Afghanistan, ARY News reported on Monday.
In a tweet posted on his official Twitter account, Trump said that the United States has “foolishly” given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years and has gained nothing from it.
“They (Pakistan) have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools.They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!,” said Trump.
Trump
Trump has time and again expressed its frustration by Pakistan’s “safe havens to Taliban factions” fighting US troops and their Afghan allies.
Trump came to office indicating that Washington’s frustration had reached the point where something had to give.
“We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting,” he said in an August address.
He added that the US can no longer be silent about Pakistan’s “safe havens for terrorist organizations” warning that vital aid could be cut.
Michael Kugelman, senior associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson Center, cautioned that people should not “overstate the significance of Trump’s tweet for policy.”
Trump in October tweeted that US relations with Pakistan were improving, but Kugelman said “they most certainly did not improve.”
“Still, this is an administration that has repeatedly vowed to take a harder line and has strongly considered an aid cut. So was Trump’s tweet meant to preview a coming shift in policy? I’d certainly bet on the possibility,” Kugelman said.
Source:
https://arynews.tv/en/