How Bad Has Trump Been For Pakistan? $3 Billion; New Data On Security Aid Cuts Overshoots All Previous Estimates

The latest assessment of all the security assistance funds withheld from Pakistan this year by US government reaches a total sum of US$ 3 billion, much higher than the previous estimates revealed by Trump and the Pentagon, reports The New Indian Express.

The new compilation was calculated on the basis of data from several different funding sources across different fiscal years, as per PTI. The new figure is much higher than the US$ 1.3 billion cited by Trump this month, or even the US$ 1.66 billion quoted by the Pentagon last week.

Trump had notably announced the suspension of security aid to Pakistan on 1 January, stating, "The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies and deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!"

This month again a twitter battle had broken out between Trump and Pakistani President Imran Khan on the issue of security aid. Trump attacked Pakistan saying that the country ‘did not do a damn thing’ for the US despite receiving billions in security aid.

Khan countered that American aid to Pakistan was a ‘miniscule’ US$20 billion, while the Pakistani economy had taken a US$123 billion hit from the War on Terror, also losing 75,000 of its citizens in the process.