Washington: Former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has alleged that Pakistan harbours terrorists who ‘go out and try to kill American soldiers’.
In her latest book ‘With All Due Respect: Defending America with Grit and Grace’ which hit the stores Tuesday, Indian-American Nikki Haley has written that US President Donald Trump was outraged when she presented to him her finding that despite being one of the largest recipient of American aid, Pakistan not only voted against US at the UN, but also harboured terrorists.
““We give Pakistan more aid than all but a handful of countries. In 2017 the US gave their military almost USD 1 billion. Pakistan opposes us at the UN a full 76 per cent of the time. What’s worse, Pakistan harbours terrorists who go out and try to kill our American soldiers,” Haley wrote in her latest book.
“I brought these findings and others to President Donald Trump. He was outraged. Soon after, he asked Congress to pass legislation ensuring that US foreign aid only goes to promote US interests and US friends,” the former top American diplomat said.
Humanitarian assistance will always be a priority for the United States, Haley said. She added that the US will always be generous when it comes to saving lives and alleviating suffering.
“That’s who we are as people. But we should not be the country of mindless handouts. Our focus should be on helping countries that want our help trying to stand on their own two feet, moving from humanitarian assistance to self-reliance. The worst of all possible outcomes is to create permanent reliance on our generosity while bringing countries no closer to supporting our interests,” Nikki Haley stated.
She said her two years as US ambassador to the UN took her to places where values of human rights and freedom of expression, religion and press does not exist, even as an ideal.
“There is no freedom of speech to appeal to for Venezuelans or Cubans. There was no freedom of religion in Pakistan to protect Aasia Bibi when she faced death for the ‘crime’ of being a Christian in Pakistan,” Haley wrote in her book.
“There is no equal justice under the law for the Uighurs in China, the Rohingya in Burma, or the Yezidis in Syria. We don’t need a different America. All of us need to show less entitlement and more gratitude for the universal principles that have made our nation great and will make it greater in the future,” Haley further stated.
PTI