NEWS DESK: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has declared himselfmystified by US threats to cut off funding, saying that US financialassistance was “very, very insignificant” and that Pakistan was “on theforefront of the war on terror”, reported The Guardian.
In an interview with the Guardian, Abbasi said that reports that the US wasconsidering cuts of up to $2bn in security assistance were bewilderingbecause the total aid Pakistan – civilian and military – actually receivedwas a tiny fraction of that amount.
“I am not sure what US aid has been talked here,” Abbasi said in his officein Islamabad. “The aid in the last five years at least has been less than$10m a year. It is a very, very insignificant amount. So when I read in thepaper that aid at the level of $250m or 500 or 900 has been cut, we atleast are not aware of that aid.”
Donald Trump used his first tweet of 2018 to threaten to withhold aid toPakistan because of what he called its “lies and deceit” over terrorism,claiming: “They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan,with little help.” The president has that the US had “foolishly” givenPakistan $33bn over the past 15 years.
According to the US Agency for International Development, the US gave $778mto Pakistan in assistance in 2016, of which 35% was military and the resteconomic.
The threatened move – designed to force Pakistan’s military andintelligence apparatus to cut support for the Taliban and other Islamistgroups – would include both US military assistance and Afghanistancoalition funding to Islamabad.
A senior official was quoted by the French Press Agency as saying thatpotential cuts could affect bilateral security assistance and funding thatis channelled to Islamabad through the US-led coalition in Afghanistan.
The official said it was “approximately $2bn worth of equipment andcoalition support funding that is in play”.
The official added that “all options are on the table” when it comes tofurther moves, including stripping Pakistan of its status as a “majornon-Nato ally”.
Pakistani officials said that the amounts actually of aid money spent aremuch less that those quoted and they plan to publish their version soon.
Abbasi, who was elected prime minister last year, rejected Trump’s chargeof duplicity over the fight against terrorism, calling his claim thatPakistan was harbouring terrorists a “fallacy”.
“Pakistan is a sovereign country and Pakistan has always abided byinternational conventions,” he said. “We are today fighting the largest waron terror in the world. We are fighting the world’s war on terror with ourown resources … That is something the world has to appreciate.
“We have over 6,500 [killed] almost 37,000 of the civilian population hasbeen killed. There are tens of thousands of people injured. We havesuffered a loss of over $120bn in our economy. So the world has toappreciate that. We just want the world to know that Pakistan is on theforefront on the war on this terror.”
“Today we are fighting terrorists. So if somebody says we are harbouringterrorists, there is no greater fallacy,” Abbasi said. “We have engaged USat every level from President Trump down. We have explained to them … whatPakistan has done we have explained to the rest of the world also.”
“[It’s] the rest of the world failed in Afghanistan to control terroristswho today attack Pakistan across the border. Pakistan has won the waragainst terror on its own territory,” Abbasi said.