U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Republican members of the Senate about immigration at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 4, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque The Trump administration officially cut funding to Pakistan on Thursday, stating the funding would cease until Pakistan begins effectively cracking down on terrorism.
According to NBC News, the administration is withholding “hundreds of millions of dollars” in funding to Pakistan that would have gone toward their efforts in fighting terrorism.
“Until the Pakistani government takes decisive action against groups including the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani network, we consider them to be destabilizing the region and also targeting U.S. personnel,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told NBC News. “Despite a sustained high level of engagement by this administration with the government of Pakistan, the Taliban and the Haqqani network continue to find sanctuary in Pakistan.”
The move comes after Trump tweeted on Monday that the U.S. was wasting money on Pakistan:
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. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2018
Pakistan responded to Trump’s tweet with a statement from their National Security Committee that read, “Recent statements and articulation by the American leadership were completely incomprehensible as they contradicted facts manifestly, struck with great insensitivity at the trust between two nations built over generations, and negated the decades of sacrifices made by the Pakistani nation.”
Pakistan’s central bank also announced that the country would be switching from the dollar to the yuan.
Islamic terror groups like the Taliban, Haqqani network and al-Qaeda have been embedded in Pakistan for years. Pakistan’s country has had trouble clamping down on terrorism and has long faced allegations of harboring terrorism. It has also been alleged that Pakistan uses the Haqqani network “as a strategic hedge against India and Afghanistan,” according to the Council of Foreign Relations.
According to Human Rights Watch, Pakistan has 19 people on death row for violating blasphemy laws and recently passed laws that allows the government to engage in online censorship. The government has also failed to crack down on child marriage and honor killings.
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