The United States Government suspended a total of US$1.66 billion in security assistance to Pakistan prompting a response from the country's Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan.
Khan commented that President Donald Trump should refrain from scapegoating Pakistan — in response to the U.S. president’s remark that Pakistan did not do “a damn thing” — in regard to insurgencies in Afghanistan as well as to Col. Rob Manning, a spokesperson of the Department of Defence, who stated that the “US$1.66 billion of security assistance to Pakistan is suspended.”
The actions of the Taliban has not significantly assuaged the U.S. Government’s concerns, "...we still see the Taliban moving weapons, fighters and money through Pakistan. We still see Taliban commanders taking refuge in Pakistan," according to Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Afghanistan David Sedney.
PM Khan, in a post on his personal Twitter account, responded to Trump's statement saying the U.S. head of state needed to "set the record straight on Pakistan."
Record needs to be put straight on Mr Trump's tirade against Pakistan: 1. No Pakistani was involved in 9/11 but Pak decided to participate in US War on Terror. 2. Pakistan suffered 75,000 casualties in this war & over $123 bn was lost to economy. US "aid" was a miniscule $20 bn.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) November 19, 2018
In September, the Pentagon took action and suspended US$300 million in aid to Islamabad, after accusing the government of allegedly failing to combat insurgencies, such as the Taliban, who Washington accuses of conducting cross-border attacks from Pakistani territory into Afghanistan.
Previously, in January, Washington also announced a suspension of US$900 million in security aid to Pakistan, stipulating that the country should implement measures against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
But, according to Sedney, the security forces of Pakistan have improved efforts to curtail the influence of insurgencies based in its territories, in recent years.
During the last 17 years, which is the period of time that the so-called U.S.-led “War on Terror” has lasted, between 480,000 and 507,000 people have been killed in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.
By mid-October 2018, the United Nations warned that, because of a drought and the conflict lasting over 17 years, at least three million Afghans have faced famine.
