WASHINGTON - The case of the jailed the Pakistani doctor who helped CIA hunt down Osama bin Laden resurfaced at the US State Department briefing Friday, after Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump claimed that if elected he would get him freed within "two minutes".

State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner's attention was drawn to Trump's televised claim at the daily pressing briefing and asked what steps the Obama administration had taken to get Dr Shakil Afridi released from jail. “We believe he’s been unjustly imprisoned, and we have clearly and repeatedly communicated our position to Pakistan on the Dr Afridi case, both in public and private, our opposition to his imprisonment,” Toner said.

“We continue to raise this issue at the highest levels in any discussion we have with the Pakistani leadership. The Pakistani government has assured us that Dr Afridi is being treated humanely and is in good health, but we believe he’s being unjustly imprisoned,” he added.

Pakistan has given no commitment on the release of Dr Afridi, who was jailed in 2012 for 33 years for running a fake vaccination campaign believed to have helped the US intelligence agency track down Bin Laden in Abbottabad in May 2011. That sentence was overturned in 2013 and the doctor is now in jail awaiting a new trial.

“We don’t have any kind of firm commitment. Again, we don’t have any firm commitment about his release or any firm details about his possible release. But we continue to press his case,” Toner said.

Earlier, asked by Fox News whether he would help free the doctor, Trump said, "Yes, I do. I think I would get him out in two minutes."

"I would tell them (Pakistan) let him out and I'm sure they would let him out," he added. He reiterated his stand that Pakistan takes advantage of US but "we get nothing in return".

Stating that they (Pakistan) don’t have any respect for American president, he said, "Because we give a lot of aid to Pakistan. We give a lot of money to Pakistan. But when you say they take advantage or they are no friend, nobody is a friend to us."

"They just take us like a bunch of suckers. And that's what my speech was about to a certain extent. It was also economic in terms of economic, relative to aid and the military. But Pakistan certainly takes advantage like everybody else. Nobody is different," Trump added.

On Afghanistan, Trump said that the United States needs to stay in Afghanistan because its immediate neighbour Pakistan has nuclear weapons which have to be protected.

The billionaire businessman said he would keep 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. "I would stay in Afghanistan. It's probably the one place we should have gone in the Middle East because it's adjacent and right next to Pakistan which has nuclear weapons. So I think you have to stay and do the best you can, not that it's ever going to be great but I don't think we have much of a choice," he said.

"That's one place, frankly, instead of going to Iraq we probably should have gone there first. I would say in Afghanistan and only, again, because of its location next to Pakistan," Trump added.

"I hate doing it, I hate doing it so much. But, again, you have nuclear weapons in Pakistan so I would do it," Trump further said.

Recently, Trump had called Pakistan the most dangerous country in the world. In an interview, he had indicated that Pakistan needs to be denuclearised.

Trump had also said that ‘you have to get India involved to check Pakistan’. "They (India) have their own nukes and have a very powerful army. They seem to be the real check... I think we have to deal very closely with India to deal with it (Pakistan)."