Pakistan Responds Furiously to US President's 'Lies and Deceit' Tweet, Summons Washington Envoy

TEHRAN (defapress)- Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khurram Dastgir-Khan responded angrily Monday to an early-morning tweet by US President Donald Trump that accused America’s once-close ally of “lies & deceit,” countering that Washington had given Islamabad “invective and mistrust” in return.

News ID: 67867

Date: 02 January 2018 - 13:27

Dastgir-Khan hit back on Twitter, writing that Pakistan, as an “anti-terror ally” of the United States, had given Washington land and air communication, military bases and intelligence cooperation that “decimated Al-Qaeda over the last 16yrs” while America “has given us nothing but invective and mistrust”, National Post reported.

In his first tweet of the new year, Trump said The United States had “foolishly” given Pakistan $33 billion USD 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 wrote further.

Foreign Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif said in an interview on Geo television that the country is ready to publicly provide an accounting of “every detail” of US aid it has received.

Pakistan was already doing all it could to combat terrorism within its borders, he added, stressing that “We have already told the US that we will not do more, so Trump’s ‘no more’ does not hold any importance".

Pakistan also summoned US ambassador in Islamabad David Hale late Monday and lodged protest over Trump's tweet in which he doubted Pakistan's role against terrorism. He was called to the Foreign Ministry after high level consultations between Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and civil and military leaders.

US Vice President Mike Pence has also stressed late December 2017 in an address at Afghanistan’s Bagram airbase that Trump has put Pakistan on notice for providing a safe haven to the Taliban and other militant groups.

Pence’s warning comes weeks after Trump in his new foreign strategy accused Pakistan of allowing terrorist safe havens on its soil, saying Islamabad must take action against terrorists who attack American forces in war-torn Afghanistan.

Relations between the two allies in the so-called war against terrorism have plummeted to new lows in recent years, mainly due to a clash of interests in war-ravaged Afghanistan.