Pakistan received tiny fraction of $2bn US aid: PM Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: Taking exception to US President Donald Trump’s threat of cutting aid, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said Pakistan has been on the forefront of the war on terror and received insignificant finance assistance in the past five years. 

In an interview with a foreign media outlet, PM Abbasi said the reports of US considering a cut of up to $2bn in security assistance were bewildering, as he said, the country actually received a tiny fraction of that amount.

“It is a very, very insignificant amount. The aid in the last five years at least has been less than $10mn a year,” he said.

In his first tweet of 2018, Trump had threatened Pakistan to withhold aid to the country for allegedly lies and deceit over terrorism.

Deploring US President Donald Trump’s accusations of harbouring terrorists on Pakistani soil, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said Pakistan has always abided by international conventions.

He said the country has been combating the war on terror with its own resources which should have been appreciated.

“The argument that Pakistan is harbouring terrorists a ‘fallacy’,” he underlined.

Throwing light on supreme sacrifices rendered by the civilians and military personnel of the country, PM Abbasi said around 6500 military personnel martyred in the war against terrorism, besides suffering a loss of over $120bn in economy.

He said Pakistan has won the war against terror on its own territory and the rest of the world failed to control terrorists in Afghanistan, who are carrying out border cross attacks in Pakistan.