A peek into US aid to Pakistan between 1947, 2019

LAHORE: Since 1947, the United States has doled out more than $70 billion to Pakistan under various heads and for multiple reasons, ranging from curbing terrorism to health and education, etc, a research conducted by the “Jang Group and Geo Television Network” shows.

This figure of $70 billion, of course, includes $33 billion, which has been dished out to Pakistan by the United States in aid since 2001-02.

The aid numbers have undoubtedly waxed and waned from time to time as American geopolitical interests in the region have been shifting quite often. (References: The Green Book or the US Overseas Loans and Grants: Obligations and Loan Authorizations, eminent American media outlets and a Congressional Research Service document titled "Direct Overt US Aid Appropriations and Military Reimbursements to Pakistan")

According to a report prepared by the Centre for Global Development, a think tank based in Washington DC and London, the United States had obligated nearly $67 billion (in constant 2011 dollars) to Pakistan between 1951 and 2011.

In September 2013, a report presented to the US Congress had revealed that Pakistan received a total of $25.91 billion from the United States in terms of military and economic aid since September 11, 2001.

A fairly recent USAID report of May 31, 2019 had stated: "The US economic assistance to Pakistan peaked in 1962, at over $2.3 billion. In 2010, military assistance to Pakistan touched the $2.5 billion mark - including $1.2billion in Coalition Support Funds. The US assistance to Pakistan reached its lowest level in the 1990s, after President George H.W. Bush had suspended aid flows over Pakistan's emerging nuclear programme. The US military assistance had dropped dramatically during and immediately after the Indo-Pakistani wars of 1965 and 1971.”

The USAID report had added: “During the 1970s, President Jimmy Carter had suspended all aid to Pakistan (except food aid) in response to Pakistan's decision to construct a Uranium enrichment facility. Although US assistance (both economic and military) to Pakistan has fluctuated considerably over the last 60 years, it has risen steadily since 2001.

According to a January 2, 2018 report of another American think-tank, the US Foreign Assistance to Pakistan had stood at $ 653 million in 2013, $ 630 million in 2014, $ 691 million in 2015, $ 687 million in 2016, $ 392 million in 2017 and just $ 345 million in 2018.