Hours after United States President Donald Trump on Monday criticised Pakistan for allegedly providing a haven to terrorists, and accused its leaders of deceiving the American administration, Islamabad summoned US envoy David Hale, Dawn reported.
United States Embassy spokesperson Richard Snelsire confirmed the development, and said that Hale was called to the the Foreign Office around 9 pm. Pakistan reportedly lodged a strong protest against Trump’s tweet and asked for a clarification.
Pakistani Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir-Khan rebuked the US president’s tweet and said that though Islamabad was its ally, America has given it nothing but invective and mistrust.
In his first tweet in the New Year, United States President Donald Trump had said on Monday that his country had “foolishly” given Pakistan $33 billion (Rs 2.10 lakh crore) in aid over the last 15 years. In return, he claimed, Pakistan had given the US nothing but “lies and deceit”. He added that US operations in Afghanistan were being affected because Islamabad provided “safe haven” to terrorists.
This is not the first time the US president has condemned Islamabad. Trump had first criticised Pakistan in August 2017 for providing shelter to terrorists. “We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting. But that will have to change, and that will change immediately,” he had said on August 22.
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.
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