After Trump Tweets, US to Announce Plans to Cancel Aid to Pakistan
Washington, MINA – The Trump administration will announce plans to “cancel” security assistance to Pakistan, a congressional source confirms to ABC News after State Department officials called Capitol Hill Wednesday morning to inform members of Congress.
The move comes as President Trump has ramped up his criticism of the unsteady American ally in tweets that blasted the country for giving the U.S. “nothing but lies & deceit,” according to ABC News.
Pakistan is a key partner in the fight against terrorism, but the U.S. has also accused it of supporting terror groups like the Haqqani Network, an independent division of the Taliban responsible for multiple attacks in neighboring Afghanistan.
The State Department declined to comment, as did White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders during her briefing Wednesday, saying, “We’ll continue to keep you posted as those decisions are finalized.”
In a tweet Monday, Trump accused Pakistan of taking “more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years” and in return providing “safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help.”
“No more!” he vowed.
The comments stirred angry reaction from Pakistan, where protesters burned Trump’s image and American flags. The Prime Minister’s office issued a long statement condemning Trump’s “completely incomprehensible” statement that “contradicted facts manifestly, struck with great insensitivity at the trust between two nations built over generations, and negated the decades of sacrifices made by the Pakistani nation.”
The State Department did not specify to Congress what kind of security assistance was being “canceled,” how much money it would be, and whether it was temporary or permanent, except to say that, “This is what we’re doing,” according to the congressional source.
The move will include the $255 million the administration withheld from Pakistan at the end of August as part of the administration’s new South Asia strategy, which called on Pakistan to do more to take out terrorists. (T/RS5/RS1)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
