Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday responded to the United State President Donald Trump's recent statements about Pakistan not doing “a damn thing” for the US.
The premier took to Twitter and wrote, "Record needs to be put straight on Mr Trump's tirade against Pakistan: 1. No Pakistani was involved in 9/11 but Pak decided to participate in US War on Terror. 2. Pakistan suffered 75,000 casualties in this war & over $123 bn was lost to the economy. US "aid" was a minuscule $20 bn."
Record needs to be put straight on Mr Trump's tirade against Pakistan: 1. No Pakistani was involved in 9/11 but Pak decided to participate in US War on Terror. 2. Pakistan suffered 75,000 casualties in this war & over $123 bn was lost to economy. US "aid" was a miniscule $20 bn.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) November 19, 2018
"Our tribal areas were devastated & millions of ppl uprooted from their homes. The war drastically impacted the lives of ordinary Pakistanis. 4. Pak continues to provide free lines of ground & air communications(GLOCs/ALOCs). Can Mr Trump name another ally that gave such sacrifices?" he added.
3. Our tribal areas were devastated & millions of ppl uprooted from their homes. The war drastically impacted lives of ordinary Pakistanis. 4. Pak continues to provide free lines of ground & air communications(GLOCs/ALOCs).Can Mr Trump name another ally that gave such sacrifices?
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) November 19, 2018
PM Imran also asked Trump to stop making Pakistan a scapegoat and “do an honest assessment of why, despite 140,000 NATO troops plus 250,000 Afghan troops and reportedly $1 trillion spent on the war in Afghanistan, the Taliban today are stronger than before.”
Instead of making Pakistan a scapegoat for their failures, the US should do a serious assessment of why, despite 140000 NATO troops plus 250,000 Afghan troops & reportedly $1 trillion spent on war in Afghanistan, the Taliban today are stronger than before.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) November 19, 2018
US President Donald Trump on Sunday defended his administration's decision to stop hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Pakistan, saying 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 city.
Referring to Laden and his former compound in Abbottabad, Trump in an interview to Fox News said, "You know, living - think of this - living in Pakistan, beautifully in Pakistan in what I guess they considered a nice mansion, I don't know, I've seen nicer."
"But living in Pakistan right next to the military academy, everybody in Pakistan knew he was there," Trump added. "And we give Pakistan $1.3 billion a year, 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.
The ties between the two countries strained after Trump, while announcing his Afghanistan and South Asia policy in August last year, hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to "agents of chaos" that kill Americans in Afghanistan and warned Islamabad that it has "much to lose" by harbouring terrorists.
In September, the Trump administration cancelled $300 million in military aid to Islamabad for not doing enough against terror groups active on its soil.
