By Agha Iqrar Haroon
For the last four and a half decades, Pakistan’s internal and external enemies have been carrying out systematic propaganda that “Pakistan and the Pakistan Army fight America’s wars for dollars,” “Generals eat dollars to the hilt,” “Pakistan is America’s slave,” etc. This accusation has been repeated so many times—despite having nothing to do with reality—that when the US government’s own official figures are examined, the entire picture is reversed.
According to official records of the US Congressional Research Service (CRS) and USAID’s Greenbook, the top 10 recipients of total economic and military aid (Economic + Military) from 1946 to 2024 are:
Israel – approximately $310 billion (adjusted)
Egypt – approximately $170 billion
Afghanistan – approximately $160 billion (2001–2021)
South Vietnam (former)
South Korea
Iraq
Ukraine (in recent years)
Jordan
Turkey
Vietnam (current)
Pakistan is not even included in this top-10 list.
Even if we look only at the post-2001 “War on Terror” aid, Afghanistan is at the top. According to SIGAR (Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction), Afghanistan received $145–160 billion from 2002 to 2021 alone. In comparison, Pakistan received about $14.6 billion under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) and other aid — totaling about $33 billion, which is four times less than Afghanistan.
Yet some “intellectuals” in Afghanistan and Pakistan keep accusing Pakistan of “destroying Afghanistan by eating dollars.” It is strange that the country that could not save itself even after taking $160 billion is today throwing mud at Pakistan — while Pakistan sacrificed more than 100,000 citizens and over 9,000 soldiers on its own soil during 2001–2025 (higher if counted since the launch of the Afghan Jihad). Pakistan suffered an economic loss of more than $130 billion (Economic Survey of Pakistan and World Bank data) during 2001–2025. It has hosted more than 3.5 million Afghan refugees, for whose upkeep the international community has never paid the full amount.
The economic cost Pakistan has paid since the Afghan Jihad remains largely undocumented for several reasons. Two core reasons are:
Pakistan lacked the expertise to conduct research covering the period 1979–1988.
The state deliberately downplayed the issue, as it did not want to reveal to its citizens the horrific economic and social impact of the Afghan Jihad on Pakistan.
In 2016, the Finance Division of the Government of Pakistan shared the economic impact of the conflict and instability in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks and their regional implications. This report documented that the financial impact of the US-led War on Terror on Pakistan exceeded 9,860 billion Pakistani rupees. Since 2016, no credible document has been released to show the massive negative consequences of the War on Terror for Pakistan.
After the US invasion of Afghanistan, Pakistan again saw a huge influx of Afghan refugees and a sudden increase in the scale of terrorist attacks. The cumulative impact of these developments severely compressed the growth rate in all major sectors of Pakistan’s economy.
The Finance Division’s official document confirmed that normal economic and trading activities were disrupted, resulting in higher costs of doing business and significant delays in meeting export orders. As a result, Pakistani products gradually lost global market share.
Since 1979, economic growth has not recovered, and Pakistan continues to be a serious victim of terrorism — including foreign-sponsored terrorism from its immediate neighbourhood. Like many sectors, the tourism industry never regained what it lost after the Afghan Jihad because the Jihad altered Pakistan’s social fabric, introducing radical elements, and international tourism cannot thrive in a radicalised environment. The Afghan factor since 1979 has changed Pakistan permanently.
However, Pakistan’s security forces fought back and restored the writ of the state in areas bordering Afghanistan through several military operations from 2003 to 2018. But much of that progress was undermined when the PTI government, allowed the resettlement of TTP terrorists inside Pakistan after the Afghan Taliban took over Kabul in August 2021. After this development, Pakistan’s relationship with terrorism and the economy changed drastically, and a full-fledged “economic terrorism” was launched against Pakistan from Afghan soil.
Since 1979, a significant portion of national resources — both human and material — has been diverted toward addressing security challenges. In addition to economic losses, cross-border terrorism has caused untold human suffering due to indiscriminate, brutal attacks on civilians and security personnel.
A senior retired military official, when asked to comment on the situation, said:
“This is a sacrifice that is not made in the ‘slavery of dollars.’ This sacrifice was made for what strategic thinkers once considered national security. America stopped money whenever it wanted, issued threats, and raised the slogan ‘Do More,’ but the Pakistan Army prioritised national interest every time. Operations like Zarb-e-Azb, Radd-ul-Fasaad, and FATA integration were not carried out for dollars, but for the survival of Pakistan”.
