In 2022, the United States government donated over 12 billion US dollars in humanitarian aid worldwide. Germany followed with over 3 billion US dollars, while the European Commission donated around 2 billion US dollars. Another about $5 billion was donated by seven other rich European countries. The Statista, a globally well-reputed analytical research think tank, has mentioned in its research report on January 5, 2023.
A big chunk of total 2021 humanitarian aid ($22 billion) was delivered to Ukraine just after the war erupted in Ukraine on February 24. Only a fraction of total humanitarian aid this year was granted to the least developed countries in Africa or the developing countries in Asia or elsewhere.
It is much less than what only the US disbursed in 2021 – a total of $38 billion. Almost 25 percent of the budget had gone to just ten countries Ethiopia ($1.13 billion), Jordan ($1.03 billion), Afghanistan ($860 million), South Sudan ($821 million), Congo ($814 million), Yemen ($814 million), Nigeria ($803 million), Syria ($774 million), Sudan ($488 million), and Somalia ($475 million).
The Biden administration announced by the end of January 2022 that it has cancelled $130 million in military aid to Egypt over “human rights concerns”, just days after the United States approved a massive $2.5bn arms sale to the country. The State Department said “the money would be shifted to other programmes but did not elaborate”. The Department made no mention of the $2.5 billion sale of military transport planes and radar systems that it had approved just days before the announcement. Even that deal had made no mention of the frozen $130 million of the Egypt government.
Pakistan’s military aid against terrorism has been curtailed to fractions while the TTP threat has started converging into unfortunate incidents. During the war against terrorism, Pakistan used to get only four percent of the total US military aid across the world. Though the Ukraine war has increased Pakistan’s strategic importance in the region and the country’s inclination towards Russia has added more concerns for Washington, it cannot attract military, humanitarian and development aid. However, some promises are dusting on the shelves.
The US continues to have problems fulfilling its obligations to its allies in the Asia-Pacific region too due to excessive financial and military assistance to Ukraine. Washington’s long-term strategy for supplying weapons to Taiwan to defend against the “growing threat” from the People’s Republic of China is undergoing significant adjustments, and they are not in favor of Taipei.
For example, Washington has not yet delivered more than 200 Javelin anti-tank missile systems and about the same number of Stinger man-portable air defense systems to Taiwan, despite timely payment by Taipei. The United States is delaying the delivery of arms and military equipment to Taiwan worth about 20 billion dollars.
At the same time, the Americans have already allocated over $29 billion for military aid to Ukraine. According to Michael McCaul, Republican member of the US House Armed Services Committee from the State of Texas, despite the fact that in some cases the delay of US military supplies to third countries reaches three years, the volume of military assistance to Kiev is not reduced, but on the contrary, is consistently growing.
The US course of uncontrolled saturation of Ukraine with weapons does not allow Taiwan to count on significant American support in case of escalation of tensions with China. Most likely, the scenario of a possible armed confrontation will be entirely dictated by Beijing, not by Washington, whose resources are aimed at prolonging the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
Most importantly, Washington does not stop or reduce the military funding to Israel despite all the odds at home. After many years of increasing US military aid to Israel, members of Congress are debating the wisdom and morality of writing a blank check for weapons for about two years — some of which are used against Palestinians living under military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in violation of US laws.
After exchange of arguments between legislators, Congresswoman Betty McCollum introduced a bill on April 15, 2021 that was co-sponsored by seventeen representatives—to ensure that US funding is not used for Israel’s ill-treatment of Palestinian children in its military judicial system, forced displacement of Palestinians through home demolitions and evictions, and illegal annexations of Palestinian land. In response, Congressman Ted Deutch produced a letter on April 22, 2021, signed by more than 300 representatives, arguing against “reducing funding or adding conditions on security assistance”.
Now, they started whispering about the Ukraine (mis)adventure. Some of the former senior officials and senators are openly questioning Washington’s military investments and interventions in several countries and its benefits to the US people while inflation and unemployment has surged to a new high. Seems, the Biden administration is just blind folded to its other obligations around the globe but Ukraine war that is to benefit only the war merchants.
