OPINION | Barry Richard: Pakistan is a Bad Investment

America's longest war has taken a turn for the interesting with the Trump Administration calling out Pakistan for being a two-faced ally. President Donald Trump tweeted on New Year's Day that change is coming;

“The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!”

Trump is correct to call out Pakistan, a Muslim-majority nation that has not delivered on a series of empty promises to American administrations since the start of the Afghanistan war that followed the attack of September 11, 2001. Then Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf vowed to work with former President George W. Bush to clear Al Qaeda and Taliban militants from mountainous enclaves along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border but, never did.

Musharraf took U.S. money not to fight terrorists, but to bolster his defenses against a feared attack from fellow nuclear power India. He also worried that by seeming to side with the Americans he might jeopardize his own power base, thus risking control of  Pakistan's nuclear weapons. Pakistan has done little to earn the billions Americans have spent to buy its assistance and loyalty. It's time for a change of policy.

Continuing to follow insane policies that have drained American resources while producing little to no results for the American people is fool hearty.

Editor's Note: Barry Richard is the afternoon host on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from Noon-3pm. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.