Pakistan summoned the ambassador of the United States in the country, David Hale in protest against the tweet of President Donald Trump about Pakistan’s lies and deceit. At the same time, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif said that the outburst was a political stunt, Reuters reported.
Hale was summoned and asked to explain the tweet. The meeting took place on Monday, a spokesperson for the Embassy confirmed. Previously Trump said that his country has “foolishly” handed Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid in the last 15 years and as a reward got nothing but lies and deceit.
“They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!” Trump tweeted.
The tweet even caused a cabinet meeting, that Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is expected to hold today. Tomorrow the civilian and military chiefs are supposed to meet and discuss deteriorating U.S. ties. Islamabad’s alleged support for Haqqani network militants, who are allies of the Afghan Taliban, is the reason why relations between the United States and Pakistan have been strained for many years. The U.S. threatened that it would cut aid and enact other punitive measures if Islamabad did not stop helping or turning a blind eye to the Haqqani network militants who carry out cross-border attacks in Afghanistan.
According to Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja, Trump’s comments are a political stunt borne out of frustration over U.S. failures in Afghanistan.
“He has tweeted against us (Pakistan) and Iran for his domestic consumption. He is, again and again, displacing his frustrations on Pakistan over failures in Afghanistan as they are trapped in a dead-end street in Afghanistan,” Asif said and emphasized that Pakistan did not need U.S. aid.
The White House does not plan to send 255 million dollars aid to Pakistan, a U.S. National Security Council official said and added that the administration continues reviewing Pakistan’s level of cooperation. The administration delayed the payment back in August.
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