American politician Nikki Haley, who has announced her candidature for president in 2024, has promised to slash financial help to “countries that are anti-US,” including Pakistan and China if she becomes the president. The former governor of South Carolina made the pledge in an op-ed in New York Post published on 24 February.

“America spent $46 billion on foreign aid last year. That’s more than any other country by far. Taxpayers deserve to know where that money is going and what it’s doing. They will be shocked to find that much of it goes to fund anti-American countries and causes. As president, I’ll put a stop to this fiasco,” she wrote.

She then gave several examples of financial aides provided to various countries by the USA that she intends to stop, and singled out money flowing to Pakistan and Iraq, whose governments are hostile to the US and where terrorist groups are active.

Haley wrote, that despite Pakistan being the base for at least a dozen terrorist organizations and its government being heavily indebted to China, Biden had renewed military assistance to the country. “The Biden administration resumed military aid to Pakistan, though it’s home to at least a dozen terrorist organizations and its government is deeply in hock to China,” she wrote. She added that as ambassador to the UN, she had “strongly supported President Donald Trump’s decision to cut nearly $2 billion of military aid to Pakistan because that country supports terrorists who kill American troops.”

She added, “It was a major victory for our troops, our taxpayers and our vital interests, but it didn’t go nearly far enough. We’ve still given them way too much in other aid. As president, I will block every penny.”

Nikki Haley wrote that the US gave more than $1 billion to Iraq over the last few years, “even though its government is getting closer to the murderous thugs in Iran who shout “Death to America!” and launch attacks on our troops.”

“We give hundreds of millions of dollars to Zimbabwe, a country with one of the most anti-American voting records in the UN,” she added.

Nikki Haley also criticised the Biden administration for restoring half a billion dollars to “a corrupt United Nations agency”, the UN Human Rights Council, saying that while it is supposed to help the Palestinian people, it in fact supports deeply anti-Semitic propaganda against US ally Israel.

Then she mentioned US money flowing into China, Belarus and Cuba, saying it is almost comical if it weren’t true. “American taxpayers still give money to Communist China for ridiculous environment programs, despite the obvious threat China poses to Americans. We give money to Belarus, which is Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s closest ally. We even give money to Communist Cuba — a country our own government has designated as a state sponsor of terrorism,” she wrote in the op-ed in NY Post.

She added that this is not just under the Biden administration, it is happening for a long time. “Our foreign-aid policies are stuck in the past. They typically operate on autopilot, with no consideration for the conduct of the countries that receive our aid.,” she said,

Nikki Haley, born to Indian-origin parents and whose original name was Nimarata Randhawa, vowed, “I will cut every cent in foreign aid for countries that hate us. A strong America doesn’t pay off the bad guys. A proud America doesn’t waste our people’s hard-earned money. And the only leaders who deserve our trust are those who stand up to our enemies and stand beside our friends.”

Haley asserted that she is vying for the presidency in order to re-establish the strength, pride and confidence of the American people. It makes sense to support American allies and friends like Israel and Ukraine. It is not to provide their tax money to enemies, she wrote.

She has vowed to stop funding countries that do not vote in favour of the USA at the UN. “We are giving huge amounts of cash to countries that vote against us most of the time. That doesn’t make sense. I’ll stop it. America can’t buy our friends. We’ll certainly never buy off our enemies.”

“No country has a right to the American taxpayer’s money. Our leaders have a responsibility to protect our people and promote our interests. Our politicians aren’t doing that, all the way up to President Joe Biden. It’s about time we had a president who did,” she added at last.

Nikki Haley formally launched her 2024 presidential bid on February 15, making history as the first American woman to do so for the Republican Party.