Over the weekend, the Pentagon announced that they have cancelled $300 million in military aid to Pakistan. They say this is because the Pakistani government is “not doing enough” to support the US war in Afghanistan, and to fight militants on the border.
This, along with other moneys withheld from Pakitan in the past, brings the total cut over the past year to $800 million. Pentagon officials say that they are seeking Congressional approval to spend the money elsewhere, though they declined to say on what.
The Pakistani government was critical of the move, with Sen. Mushahid Hussain noting that the money being withheld was never meant to be aid in the first place, but rather was money owed to Pakistan by the US military for services provided during the war.
Yet the US has repeatedly treated this as aid, and has withheld, frozen, or outright cut the funding several times in the past. While the US appears to believe this is a simple way to “punish” Pakistan for not behaving as they’d prefer, it also risks alienating Pakistan, and convincing them to stop providing aid to the US at all, knowing there’s a good chance they’ll never get paid for it.
How about not giving the loot to the Pentagon at all?
Exactly. Use it on the infrastructure. $3.8 billion would fix a lot of bridges and highways also.
This is the first step to rehabilitation of a drug addict: decoupling from the dealer. The dealer being the US in this case.
The less money Pakistan gets, the better.
Sure, call it frozen marmalade if you want to, what it is is hiring mercenaries on the far side of the world to kill who the US government specifies. We are making a habit of punishing them by low-balling on their salary – the universally recognized perfect formula for making workers feel valued, happy and productive, with their lives and national sovereignty on the line.
Pakistan has been a US-declared ally awarded tens of billions of dollars, even though Pakistan is an actual enemy, which has been a stupid policy.
General McChrystal, in his assessment to Obama in 2009, detailed the Afghan situation where Pakistan sees an Indian influence and therefore supports the Taliban killing Americans. Obama then declared Pakistan an ally, and gave Pakistan billions. The Taliban now controls or contends in sixty percent of Afghanistan so the US will punish Pakistan by giving it less money. That’ll show ’em!
Hello CHINA…..!!!!!!
Just goes to illustrate the naked U.S. hubris on display for all the world to see.
Pakistan elects a great statesman, not a crook like so many in the past, and our neophyte takes the low road of raw coercion and action’s that don”t suggest a very “Let’s Get Along” interchange. Not anything of vast import, but a sad sign and telling move that indicate’s bad judgement on the new and hopeful leadership in Pakistan from the U.S. Better to have done nothing and offered to negotiate the matter.. Not a promising initiation of the relationship between the two new leaders.