Pakistan on Monday warned the United States against the “malicious campaign” that it said was being used to “trivialise” Islamabad’s achievements in the war against terrorism. “The foreign office said allies do not put each other on notice,” the government of Pakistan said.
Pakistan’s Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb said that the US should not blame Pakistan for Washington’s failure in Afghanistan. Pakistan has rendered “unmatched sacrifices” in the war against terrorism and there is no ambiguity about it, Aurangzeb said.
The Pakistani government was reacting to US President Donald Trump’s statement that America had “foolishly” given Pakistan $33 billion in aid over the last 15 years. He claimed that in return Pakistan had given the US nothing but “lies and deceit”.
Major General Asif Ghafoor, a spokesperson for the Pakistan Army, said that the financial aid the country had received from the US was a “reimbursement for the support Islamabad gave to the coalition for its fight against al Qaeda”.
In July 2017, the United States had blocked $350 million (Rs 2,23,433 lakh) in aid to Pakistan for not taking enough action against the Haqqani network. In August, the Trump administration told the US Congress that it was putting on hold $255 million (Rs 1,62,787 lakh) in aid due to Pakistan as part of $1.1 billion sanctioned in 2016.
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