‘A mad scramble’: how Trump tweet declaring end to Pakistan aid blindsided US officials
‘None of the elements of a coherent policy was in place...Despite a mad scramble to backfill a tweet, we still don’t have an effective policy in place’
A surprise New Year’s Day tweet by US President Donald Trump in which he appeared to decree an end to US aid for Pakistan sent American officials scrambling to suspend security assistance without even knowing how much aid they were freezing, four US officials said.
The decision to freeze up to about US$2 billion in security aid, according to a later estimate by US officials, to a nuclear-armed ally is the latest example of how, nearly a year into Trump’s presidency, US officials sometimes have to scurry to turn his tweets into policy.
The Trump administration had been weighing an aid freeze for months, including in a meeting of top national security advisers before Christmas. Washington has for years demanded that Islamabad stop providing sanctuary and other support for the Afghan Taliban and the allied Haqqani network.
At the time of Trump’s tweet, a US assessment of Pakistani compliance with those demands was still under way. A cohesive US policy – including preparations for possible Pakistani reaction – was not expected to be completed until March or April, three US officials interviewed said.
“None of the elements of a coherent policy was in place, or even close at hand, when the president, in effect, made a policy announcement,” said one US official, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity. “Despite a mad scramble to backfill a tweet, we still don’t have … an effective policy in place.”
