KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday lashed out at US President Donald Trump, saying Pakistan won’t allow the US to scapegoat it anymore.
Someone please explain to @realDonaldTrump difference between coalition support fund reimbursement for work done & USaid ostensibly given for humanitarian reasons, to win hearts & minds.Cutting off moneys owed for assistance already rendered does not encourage further cooperation
— BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) January 2, 2018
“We will eradicate extremism because it’s in our interest not because of what @realDonaldTrump says. We will not allow the #US to scapegoat #Pakistan for its own failures in the region”, the PPP president said.
We will eradicate extremism because it’s in our interest not because of what @realDonaldTrump says. We will not allow the #US to scapegoat #Pakistan for its own failures in the region.
— BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) January 2, 2018
He further said, “Pakistan needs to articulate & implement a counter violent extremism strategy not because of what the US wants but because we need to succeed. to survive. We also have to come to terms with the fact, the US is no longer interested in defeating terrorism.”
#Pakistan needs to articulate & implement a counter violent extremism strategy not because of what the US wants but because we need to succeed. to survive. We also have to come to terms with the fact, US is no longer interested in defeating terrorism.
— BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) January 2, 2018
“The US just wants to ‘win’ in Afghanistan/Iraq/Syria & the many quagmires they are involved with. No plan to get out. All they are left with is excuses, blame games and denial,” he went on to say.
The US just wants to ‘win’ in Afghanistan/Iraq/Syria & the many quagmires they are involved with. No plan to get out. All they are left with is excuses, blame games and denial.
— BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) January 2, 2018
“Only the #PPP has experience in handling both the US & our own domestic terrorism issue. In our last government, we launched Pakistan’s first, most extensive and most successful anti-terror operations. We also shut NATO supplies & air bases until the US apologised for Salala,” he concluded.
Only the #PPP has experience in handling both the US & our own domestic terrorism issue. In our last government we launched Pakistan’s first, most extensive and most successful anti-terror operations. We also shut NATO supplies & air bases until the US apologied for Salala.
— BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) January 2, 2018
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.
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”.
“No more,” he added, in what seems to be the latest iteration of Washington’s “do more” mantra.