Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Monday said that US President Donald Trump s tweet was "unacceptable" in its tone and that Pakistan should not be "scapegoated" for US failures in Afghanistan.
Relations between the United States and its uneasy ally have frayed since Jan. 1, when Trump lashed out against what he called Pakistan s "lies and deceit" over its alleged support of Afghan Taliban militants battling US troops in Afghanistan. Washington has since suspended aid totalling about $2 billion.
"That is something ... we cannot accept because nobody s suffered more than Pakistan," Abbasi said, adding that tens of thousands of Pakistani have died from militancy that has inflicted damage worth $120 billion to the economy.
US officials last year warned of tougher measures against Pakistan, including potentially withdrawing its "non-Nato ally" status or even designating it a state sponsor of terrorism.
Abbasi said much of the suspended aid was from the Coalition Support Fund (CSF), a US Defence Department programme to reimburse allies for the costs of supporting counter-terrorist and counter-insurgency operations.
He said the US needed to respect Pakistan s contribution to the fight against Islamist militancy and raised the prospect of charging Washington for air transport flights that have been resupplying US-led troops and Afghan forces in landlocked Afghanistan.
