WASHINGTON – A surprise New Year’s Day tweet by President Donald Trump inwhich he appeared to decree an end to U.S. aid for Pakistan, sent U.S.officials scrambling to suspend security assistance without even knowinghow much aid they were freezing, four U.S. officials said.
The decision to freeze up to about $2 billion in security aid, according toa later estimate by U.S. officials, to a nuclear-armed ally is the latestexample of how, nearly a year into Trump’s presidency, U.S. officialssometimes have to scurry to turn his tweets into policy.
The Trump administration had been weighing an aid freeze for months,including in a meeting of top national security advisers before Christmas.Washington has for years demanded that Islamabad stop providing sanctuaryand other support for the Afghan Taliban and the allied Haqqani network.
(For a graphic of historical U.S. aid to Pakistan, click here:tmsnrt.rs/2DbVEyQ)
At the time of Trump’s tweet, a U.S. assessment of Pakistani compliancewith those demands was still under way. A cohesive U.S. policy – includingpreparations for possible Pakistani reaction – was not expected to becompleted until March or April, three U.S. officials interviewed said.
“None of the elements of a coherent policy was in place, or even close athand, when the president, in effect, made a policy announcement,” said oneU.S. official, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity. “Despite amad scramble to backfill a tweet, we still don’t have … an effectivepolicy in place.”