Washington: Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump today hinted at seeking help from India and other nations to address the ‘problem’ of what he described as a ‘semi-unstable nuclear-armed Pakistan.
On US aid to Pakistan, Trump said that he would ‘try and keep’ the ‘not that much’ amount of aid his country gives to Pakistan and with regards to humanitarian aid he would try so hard to keep some of these countries going.
"Yes, but the problem with Pakistan, where they have nuclear weapons - which is a real problem," Trump said.
"The single biggest problem we have is nuclear weapons, you know, countries with them. And it's not only a country, you have nine countries right now with nuclear weapons. But Pakistan is semi-unstable. We don't want to see total instability. It's not that much, relatively speaking. We have a little bit of a good relationship. I think I'd try and keep it," Trump added.
Trump's such remarks came during a town-hall in Indianapolis in response to a question on how he would deal with countries like Pakistan which has sometimes "double dealt" with the US.
"It is very much against my grain to say that, but a country - and that's always the country, I think, you know, we give them money and we help them out, but if we don't, I think that would go on the other side of the ledger and that could really be a disaster," Trump said, without explaining what that disaster would be.
"At the same time, if you look at India and some of the others, maybe they'll be helping us out, because we're going to look at it. We have many, many countries that we give a lot of money to and we get absolutely nothing in return and that's going to stop fast," Trump said.
Trump's remarks came on a day when lawmakers questioned the rationale of the Obama administration to give billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan without desired results.
State Department has request $742.2 million in aid to Pakistan for 2016-2017 including $472.4 million in civilian assistance and $269.8 million in security assistance.
"Pakistan is a nation of 180 million people with a history of terrorist activities, roughly 100 nuclear weapons and a very confused body politic," said Congressman Brad Sherman.
"We've got a be concerned what military assistance and whether the F-16s constitute the least expensive, most efficient way for the Pakistani air force to go after the terrorists and the least disruptive weapon system to the balance of power between India and Pakistan. We need to offer to Pakistan those weapon systems well-crafted to go after terrorists and not crafted for a war with India," he said.
This is not the first time that Trump has slammed Pakistan over it nuclear power. Trump had in past described Pakistan a ‘very very vital problem’ asserting d that the country needs to ‘get a hold of’ its situation. “Pakistan is a very, very vital problem and really vital country for us because they have a thing called nuclear weapons. They have to get a hold of their situation,” he had said.
With PTI Inputs
