- Imran Khan sets the record straight on Trump’s tirade against Pakistan
- We will do what is best for our people, our interests: PM Khan fires back after Trump tweets
- Pakistan suffered 75,000 casualties in U.S war on terror and over $123 billion was lost to the economy. US “aid” was a minuscule $20 billion.
ISLAMABAD, November 19: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday tweeted his response to US President’ Trump’s recent statements about Pakistan not doing “a damn thing” for the US.
“Record needs to be put straight on Mr Trump’s tirade against Pakistan,” the prime minister tweeted stating examples.
1. No Pakistani was involved in 9/11 but Pakistan decided to participate in US War on Terror.
2. Pakistan suffered 75,000 casualties in this war and over $123 billion was lost to the economy. US “aid” was a minuscule $20 billion.
3. Our tribal areas were devastated and millions of people uprooted from their homes. This war drastically impacted the lives of ordinary Pakistanis.
4. Pakistan continues to provide free lines of ground and air communications (GLOCs/ALOCs).
Prime Minister Khan in his tweet also called on the US president to name another ally that had given such great sacrifices.
The prime minister also called on the US to stop making Pakistan the scapegoat and “do a serious 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.”
In a recent interview, US President Donald Trump alleged that Pakistan does “not do a damn thing” for the United States and accused Islamabad of helping Osama bin Laden hide there.
Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari said Trump’s statement should be a lesson for those Pakistani leaders who kept appeasing the US especially after September 11. Mazari went on to give examples of the appeasement such as the loss of Pakistani lives in the US war on terror, free space to Raymond Davis and other operatives and illegal killings by drone attacks.
“Also, whether China or Iran, US policies on containment and isolation do not coincide with Pakistan’s strategic interests,” Mazari added.
Former defence minister Khawaja Asif in his response to Trump said, “We continue to play in blood for what we did for USA from Badaber to fighting wars which weren’t ours.”
“Reinvented our religion to suit US interests, destroyed our tolerant ethos, replaced it with bigotry and intolerance. A relationship of betrayals and sanctions,” Asif asserted.
The US president’s tweets were shortly followed by another Twitter post by Prime Minister Khan, who said Trump “needs to be informed about historical facts”.
“Trump’s false assertions add insult to the injury [that] Pak has suffered in U.S WoT in terms of lives lost and destabilised & economic costs,” the premier wrote.
Relations between the United States and Pakistan, which began to strain in 2011, reached a new low in January when Trump suspended US security assistance to Islamabad over the alleged presence of Afghan militant groups in Fata. The government as well as the military had rejected the charge as incorrect.
The Inter-Services Public Relations had clarified at the time that the Coalition Support Fund, received from the US, is reimbursement of money spent for operations in support of the coalition for regional peace.-Agencies
