It is the Pakistani ISI that has caused so many problems. The ISI is probably the entity that trained the Taliban for many years before they returned to Afghanistan. The real folly occurred under "W" when he abandoned Afghanistan to invade oil-laden Iraq.
Sorry for the pause I had a phone call.
Other than the Taliban, I believe the Haqqani Network is still alive and well. There are many entities that feed off financial aid into the region. I don't know that eliminating that aid so much as targeting it is a far better strategy to end violence. One aspect of burgeoning societies in Pakistan and Afghanistan are places of education. Pakistan especially has been successful in the education of their people over the past decade. Of course, the content of the education can be challenged if it inspires hatred or isolationism. But, that can be better realized by offering financial aid to curriculum that inspires democracy and freedom, including religious freedom, diversity and tolerance.
Realizing how small the world has become with increased online access is to realize how ridiculous isolation is as a method to governance. Freedom of speech has never been more important both domestically for the USA and with international allies. It is even more interesting to realize social media has been accepted to some degree in traditionally communist countries, such as China.
But, as to Pakistan. I think President Trump is partially correct. This is a country that has violated the Non-Proliferation Treaty and remains a concern to India in maintaining any reasonable peace in the region. I think funding for Pakistan should be in the areas of education and better governance including ending the vacillation of the ISI. I have long believed paying for Pakistani airspace was a major mistake by the USA that resulted in larger danger to the USA than safety.
January 1, 2018After recent reports (click here) that the Donald Trump administration was considering cutting off aid to Pakistan, US President Donald Trump slammed the country, saying that the US had "foolishly" given Pakistan $33 billion in aid in the last 15 years.
Trump said that the US had only gotten lies and deceit in return for the monetary aid it had provided. Trump also said that US operations in Afghanistan were being hindered by the "safe haven" that Pakistan was providing to terrorists.
The US, which has provided Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid since 2002, said in August that it was withholding the $255 million until Pakistan did more to crackdown on terrorist groups.
Last week, The New York Times reported that the Trump administration was seriously weighing whether to withhold $255 million in already delayed aid to Islamabad over its failure to better crack down on terror groups in Pakistan....
