OPINION:
President Donald Trump opened 2018 with a stark reminder of why he’s not Barack Obama — why America is not content to sit idly by and talk, talk, talk while getting screwed, screwed, screwed.
“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 & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools,” he tweeted. “They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan with little help. No more!”
And with that, all the Obama-like “diplomacy at all costs” types no doubt breathed a collective gasp.
But this is the America we should be — the one that doesn’t let foreign nations bite the hands that feed them.
Moreover, this is the White House leadership that should be — one that simply fulfills what was promised on the campaign trail.
In August 2016, Trump said this from the campaign trail, while discussing U.S. assistance to Afghanistan: “We are not nation building again. We are killing terrorists. The next pillar of our new strategy is to change the approach in how to deal with Pakistan. We can no longer be silent about Pakistan’s safe haven for terrorist organizations, the Taliban and other groups that pose a threat to the region and beyond.”
Pakistan, meet new strategy.
A spokesperson for the National Security Council said the United States will continue to withhold $255 million in military aid to Pakistan until the country’s “level of cooperation” in fighting terrorism was in line with American expectations. And now the Pentagon’s considering whether or not to go ahead and release the $400 million that Congress previously approved for Pakistan — as well as another $350 million in new defense earmarks, Bloomberg reported.
Trump’s only following through on what was promised during his campaign.
Pakistan’s prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, rushed to convene an emergency meeting. And David Hale, the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, has been summoned to the country’s foreign office to explain Trump’s remarks — remarks that have now been dismissed by the foreign minister as a political stunt due to U.S. military failures in Afghanistan, the Guardian reported.
Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif also said Pakistan didn’t need America’s financial aid.
And on that — good. ’Cause it doesn’t appear that you’ll be getting it. Pakistan, meet America, a sleeping bear that seems to be finally waking from its long, yearslong slumber.
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