President Trump’s early-morning New Year’s tweet warning Pakistan has drawn a sharp rebuke from the Pakistani Government while drawing praise from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). The President, in one of his first tweets of the year, criticized Pakistan for not doing more to root out terrorists who find safe haven in Pakistan after crossing the border from neighboring Afghanistan, while taking more than $33 billion in aid from the US.
That tweet drew a response from Paul, who wrote on Twitter that he’s been fighting to end aid to Pakistan for years and vowed to lead the charge again in the Senate. “Let’s make this happen @realDonaldTrump,” Paul wrote.
The President’s tweet drew a sharp response from Pakistan though, whose Defense Ministry wrote that Pakistan has given free land & air communication, intel cooperation and military bases to the US. All Pakistan has received in return, their response read, was “invective & mistrust.”
Pak as anti-terror ally has given free to US: land & air communication, military bases & intel cooperation that decimated Al-Qaeda over last 16yrs, but they have given us nothing but invective & mistrust. They overlook cross-border safe havens of terrorists who murder Pakistanis.
— Pak Defence—PMLN (@PakDefencePMLN) January 1, 2018
Paul has long advocated for a reduction in foreign aid. In the past, he has proposed paying for emergency aid for victims of natural disasters with cuts to foreign aid. The “American First” solution, he’s called it.