Imran hits back at Trump after his tirade against Pak
an interview to Fox News on Sunday in which he said he cancelled assistance worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Pakistan earlier this year because “they don’t do anything for us, they don’t do a damn thing for us”.
Washington has long pressured Islamabad to crack down on militancy, accusing Pakistan of ignoring or even collaborating with groups which attack Afghanistan from safe havens along the border between the two countries. Pakistan, which joined the war on terror in 2001, says it has paid the price for the alliance.
“Pakistan suffered 75,000 casualties in this war & over $ 123 bn was lost to economy. US “aid” was a miniscule $ 20 bn,” Mr Khan tweeted Monday.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said that no Pakistani was involved in 9/ 11.
Taking strong exception to US President Donald Trump’s diatribe against Pakistan, Prime Minister Khan said: “Record needs to be put straight on Mr Trump’s tirade against Pakistan: One, no Pakistani was involved in 9/ 11 but Pak decided to participate in US War on Terror. Two, Pakistan suffered 75,000 casualties in this war and over $ 123 billion was lost to economy. US aid was a miniscule $ 20 billion.”
He added: “Three, Our tribal areas were devastated and millions of people uprooted from their homes. The war drastically impacted lives of ordinary Pakistanis. Four, Pakistan continues to provide free lines of ground and air communications. Can Mr Trump name another ally that gave such sacrifices.”
Instead of making Pakistan a scapegoat for their failures, he said, the “US should do a serious assessment of why, despite 140000 Nato troops plus 250,000 Afghan troops and reportedly $ 1 trillion spent on war in Afghanistan, the Taliban today are stronger than before.”
Extending his proclivity of creating diplomatic mess, United States President Donald Trump on Sunday unleashed yet another diatribe against Pakistan while accusing Islamabad of “doing nothing for US”.
Mr Trump also defended his administration’s decision to stop hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Pakistan, saying that the country does not do “a damn thing” for the US and its government had helped Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden hide near its garrison city.
“And we give Pakistan $ 1.3 billion a year. ... ( Osama Bin Laden) lived in Pakistan, we’re supporting Pakistan, we’re giving them $ 1.3 billion a year — which we don’t give them anymore, by the way, I ended it because they don’t do anything for us, they don’t do a damn thing for us,” he said.
Ever since Trump’s “unexpected” rise to power, the relations between Islamabad and Washington have dipped to new low as United States continues to put blame of its failures in war- torn Afghanistan on Pakistan.
In 2018 only, the deaths of Afghanistan security forces have mounted to a new high as Taliban insurgency continues to grow stronger.