Former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Wednesday lambasted the strategy announced by US President Donald Trump for Afghanistan and South Asia, saying Pakistan was not responsible for the failure of US and its allies in Afghanistan.
Nisar also ridiculed Trump's claim that the US has paid "billions and billions of dollars" to Pakistan, calling on the Pakistani government to put on the table the record of past 20 years to expose American claims.
"It's not billions of dollars, it is peanuts," the former interior minister said.
Nisar said that the Coalition Support Fund paid by US is for the services rendered by Pakistan in the fight against terrorism.
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He said that the US drags its feet during the payment of the military fund, adding, "If our bill [for military services] is $500 million, they [US] sit on it for months... and end up giving us $200 million."
Agreeing with Opposition leader Khursheed Shah, he said that a joint session of the parliament should have been called to discuss the response to the US policy instead of a National Assembly session.
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A message conveyed from the united parliament would be positive, he added.
Trump used his August 21 speech to announce the new strategy, which denounced Pakistan for allegedly allowing terrorists to maintain safe havens inside its territory. It also gave India a bigger role in Afghanistan, stoking fears in Islamabad that India would use this opportunity for stirring troubles in the bordering areas of Pakistan.
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Talking tough on Pakistan, Trump had said, "We can no longer be silent about Pakistan's safe havens for terrorist organisations," warning that vital aid to Islamabad could be cut.
"We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting," Trump had said. "That will have to change and that will change immediately."
