US should not give aid to Pak until it stops harbouring terrorists: Haley

Washington, Feb26: Pakistan has a long history of harboring terrorists and America should not give Islamabad even a dollar until it corrects its behavior, Indian-American former United States envoy to the United Nations Nikki Haley has said as she praised the Trump administration for wisely restricting financial assistance to the country.

"In 2017, Pakistan received nearly USD 1 billion in US foreign aid, the sixth most of any country. Much of the aid went to the Pakistani military. Some went for road, highway, and energy projects to assist the Pakistani people," Haley wrote.

"On all key votes at the UN, Pakistan opposed the American position 76 percent of the time. Much more troubling, Pakistan also has a long history of harboring terrorists who have killed US troops in Afghanistan," she said.

Haley, the former Governor of South Carolina, added that the Trump Administration has "already wisely restricted assistance to Pakistan, but there is much more to be done."

Haley had said the US did not need to give money to countries that wish harm to America, go behind its back and try and "stop us from doing things".

"The one example I'll give you is, look at Pakistan. Giving them over a billion dollars, and they continue to harbor terrorists that turn around and kill our soldiers —that's never okay. We shouldn't even give them a dollar until they correct it. Use the billion dollars. That's not a small amount of change," she had said.

Last September, the Trump administration canceled USD 300 million in military aid to Islamabad for not doing enough against terror groups active on its soil. Trump had defended his administration's decision to stop hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Pakistan, saying Islamabad does not do "a damn thing" for the US and its government helped late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden hide near its garrison city of Rawalpindi.