"The Foreign Secretary called in the US CdA Ambassador Paul Jones to register a strong protest on the unwarranted and unsubstantiated allegations made against Pakistan. Rejecting the insinuations about OBL [Osama bin Laden], Foreign Secretary reminded the US CdA that it was Pakistan’s intelligence cooperation that provided the initial evidence to trace the whereabouts of OBL," Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that "baseless rhetoric about Pakistan was totally unacceptable,” Sputnik reported.
The statement came shortly after Trump tweeted that Pakistan hadn't given 'anything to the US in return' for billions of dollars in aid, and suggested that Pakistani authorities knew al-Qaeda's ex-leader Osama bin Laden's whereabouts before his killing by US special forces in 2011 in a raid on his house in Pakistan.
“Of course we should have captured Osama Bin Laden long before we did. I pointed him out in my book just BEFORE the attack on the World Trade Center. President Clinton famously missed his shot. We paid Pakistan Billions of Dollars & they never told us he was living there. Fools!..” Trump wrote in the first tweet on Monday. Then he added another one saying, “….We no longer pay Pakistan the $Billions because they would take our money and do nothing for us, Bin Laden being a prime example, Afghanistan being another. They were just one of many countries that take from the United States without giving anything in return. That’s ENDING!”
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan blasted Trump’s remarks on Tuesday with a series of three tweets:
“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.”
“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.”
“Trump’s false assertions add insult to the injury Pak has suffered in US WoT in terms of lives lost & destabilised & economic costs. He needs to be informed abt historical facts. Pak has suffered enough fighting US's war. Now we will do what is best for our people & our interests.”
Tensions between the two countries escalated after the US announced it would cut Pakistan's financial support by $800 million.
SPUTNIK/MNA
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