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Trump tweet draws protest from Pakistan’s government
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan lashed out Monday after President Donald Trump accused its leaders of “lies & deceit” and suggested the United States would withdraw financial assistance to the nucleararmed nation it once saw as a key ally against terrorism.
U.S. Ambassador David Hale was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to discuss the president’s statement, U.S. Embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire said. Pakistan lodged a strongly worded protest and asked for clarification of Trump’s comments, according to two foreign office officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
It was the president’s latest broadside against Pakistan after a speech in August in which he demanded that its leaders crack down on the safe havens enjoyed by Taliban militants fighting U.S.backed forces in neighboring Afghanistan.
“The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools,” Trump wrote.
Trump’s face was plastered across TV channels in Pakistan. Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif went on Geo TV, the country’s biggest news channel, to respond.
“We have already told the U.S. that we will not do more, so Trump’s ‘no more’ does not hold any importance,” Asif said.
He said that Trump was disappointed that the U.S. was losing its 16-year war in Afghanistan and was trying to blame Pakistan. He also said Pakistan was “ready to publicly provide every detail of the U.S. aid that it has received.”
Pakistani officials maintain that the billions of dollars the country has received from the U.S. were mainly reimbursements for supporting U.S.-led coalition forces that invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to topple the Taliban regime that sheltered al-Qaida.
Afghanistan officials have cheered Trump’s tough talk against Pakistan, which it accuses of sponsoring terrorist attacks on Afghan soil.
The tense exchanges followed days of speculation that the Trump administration — dissatisfied with the way Pakistan has dealt with the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network and other terrorist groups — was set to dramatically reduce aid to the South Asian nation, long a key partner.
Michael Kugelman, deputy director for the Asia Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, said that Trump may have been likely telegraphing an upcoming decision to reduce aid to the country.
“The Trump administration has been keen to take a harder line on Pakistan but up to this point it hasn’t been clear if the White House would follow through on the threats. This tweet suggests some type of change could be afoot,” Kugelman said.
However, Kugelman added, “We shouldn’t overstate the policy significance of this tweet. It’s more likely to be an expression of frustration or a statement of intent rather than an actual declaration of a new policy.”
In India, news of Trump's tweet was met with celebration in some quarters, a healthy dose of skepticism in others. Analysts pointed out that in October Trump had tweeted that the administration was "starting to develop a much better relationship with Pakistan and its leaders."
This worried Indian officials who had hoped Trump would be taking a stronger stance on Pakistan.
The good will appears to have flagged for a variety of reasons; administration officials, for example, were reportedly not happy that Pakistan freed Hafiz Mohammad Saeed from house arrest in November. The Islamist cleric — who led the militant group that conducted the terror attack on Mumbai in 2008, which left more than 160 civilians dead — had been arrested last January.