ISLAMABAD: The US has sanctioned $33.4 billion for reimbursements toPakistan during the past 15 years, 44% of which was on account of servicesthat Islamabad rendered to support Washington’s anti-terror operations inAfghanistan.
This singular act denies Washington any meaningful chance to financiallyblackmail its non-Nato ally.
By excluding the $14.573 billion cost of logistics and aerial support, theapproved civilian and security-related aid to Pakistan from 2002 to 2016was only $18.8 billion, according to the statistics compiled by USauthorities.
The data has been gathered by the departments of State, Defense,Agriculture, and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Compared to the actual foreign aid of $18.8 billion to Pakistan, thefinance ministry’s statistics showed that Islamabad sustained $123.13billion losses on account of the war against terrorism since 9/11.
But Washington’s economic leverage over Islamabad has significantly reducedsince 2014, as it came down to $1.6 billion per annum against the averageof $2.3 billion per annum between 2002 and 2013.
This includes reimbursements from the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) that istechnically not aid but service payments for providing logistical andoperational support to the US-led military operations in Afghanistan.
By excluding the CSF-related payments to Pakistan, US assistance toPakistan from 2014 to 2016 was $810 million per annum against the averageof $1.4 billion during the 2002-2013 period, according to the statistics.
The flow of funds from the US to Pakistan saw another drastic reduction in2017. US economic assistance historically remained around 1% of Pakistan’sbudget, which can easily be met from other sources.