NEW DELHI: While the blocking today of significant military funds to Pakistan seems like stern action on the part of the US, which often doesn't follow up on its threats to Islamabad, it is worth bearing in mind that security funding as well as economic-related funding to Pakistan by the US has already seen a sharp downswing since fiscal 2010.
So, from being the country where most of US funds got funnelled to after 9/11, Pakistan has become relatively persona non grata, as far as US aid is concerned, in 2017.
Even more telling is that the numbers - sourced from the US's Congressional Research Service - put paid to the perception that Republicans carry a bigger stick, when it comes to their allies, than Democrats. They don't.
The numbers show that the biggest decline in US security- and economic-related funding to Pakistan happened during the years Barack Obama, a Democrat, was President of the US.
Consider this: Between 2002 and 2009, US aid to Pakistan averaged a little over $2.2 billion a year. Total aid to Pakistan in fiscal year 2010 was $4.5 billion, whereas total aid in fiscal 2016 was $794 million. Of this total aid, US security funding for Pakistan was $1.24 billion in 2010, which came down to a paltry $316 million in 2016.
That begs the question: Does today's announcement by the Trump administration, that it's blocking $225 million in security-related funding to Pakistan, have as much as an impact as it appears to?
The answer suggests itself in the graph below, which is a breakdown of US economic and security aid to Pakistan since 2010.
Consider this now: Historically, Pakistan has been among the top recipients of US aid. Since 1948, the US has pledged more than $30 billion in direct aid, about half for military assistance, and more than two-thirds appropriated in the post-2001 period, according to a 2013 Congressional Research Service report.
This was what Trump was talking about in his first tweet of 2018: "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!"
Consider this now: Historically, Pakistan has been among the top recipients of US aid. Since 1948, the US has pledged more than $30 billion in direct aid, about half for military assistance, and more than two-thirds appropriated in the post-2001 period, according to a 2013 Congressional Research Service report.
This was what Trump was talking about in his first tweet of 2018: "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!"
The data however shows the US has been saying "no more" since 2010, and more dramatically, since 2011 - the year that US Special Forces hunted down and killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. The Obama administration came under increasing pressure on US largesse to Pakistan, and significantly scaled down - without Trump's bluster - both economic and military aid.