Pakistani officials accuse US of betrayal

ISLAMABAD: Amid loud opposition calls for retaliation, Pakistani officials have decried “arbitrary deadlines” and “unilateral pronouncements” after the Trump administration suspended an estimated $1 billion (R12bn) in military assistance.

In one of the harshest actions in years between the troubled allies, the Trump administration moved to block the military aid at the end of a contentious week that began with the president accusing the Pakistanis of years of “lies and deceit.”

State Department officials said they were holding back the aid as an incentive for Pakistan to take “decisive action” to rid its lands of terrorist safe havens.

It also placed Pakistan on a watch list of countries failing to protect religious freedom.

“Working towards enduring peace requires mutual respect and trust along with patience and persistence,” Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said yesterday. “Arbitrary deadlines, unilateral pronouncements and shifting goalposts are counter-productive in addressing common threats.”

In an interview on Thursday with the Geo News channel, Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said the US was now neither a friend nor ally, but “a friend who always betrays”.

Pakistan’s opposition leader, Imran Khan, said Pakistan should “delink” itself from the US after its humiliation “by an ungrateful Donald Trump”. – Washington Post