ISLAMABAD: United States President Donald Trump on Monday began the new year by accusing Pakistan of giving Washington “nothing but lies and deceit”, announcing that the country will not get any aid in future.
His provoking tweet spurred nearly 250,000 people to click the small heart icon — almost twice the average likes that his tweets normally get. It was also retweeted more than 84,000 times. Trump’s Twitter account has more than 36,000 tweets and more than 45 million followers.
Trump tweeted that Islamabad thinks of US leaders “as fools”.
He said Washington had “foolishly given Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid over the last 15 years”. In turn, he claimed that Pakistan had given “safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help”.
The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2018
“No more,” he added, in what seems to be the latest iteration of Washington’s “do more” mantra.
In reaction to the tweet, the Foreign Office summoned US Ambassador David Hale on Monday night and lodged a protest against Trump’s tweet. The US Embassy confirmed that Ambassador Hale was summoned by the Foreign Office at 9:00 pm.
In December 2017, the Pentagon informed the US Congress that it would take ‘unilateral steps’ in areas of divergence with Pakistan while expanding cooperation between the two countries where their interests converge.
As the year came to an end, US Vice President Mike Pence in a surprise visit to Afghanistan’s Bagram airbase warned that Trump has now “put Pakistan on notice” in what is the harshest US warning to Islamabad since the beginning of the Afghan war over 16 years ago.
Hitting back at the US, the Foreign Office warned against a “malicious campaign” being used to trivialise Pakistan’s achievements in the war against terrorism, and noted that “allies do not put each other on notice.”
The FO maintained that recent US statements are “at variance with the extensive conversations we [Islamabad] have had with the US administration”.
Haha deport all Afghan refugees/terrorists & block the NATO supply. Need to teach them a good lesson. Enough of our insult
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