US officials approach foreign office to defuse tensions: sources

The officials also stated that US would continue to engage with Islamabad on diplomatic channels.

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Following strong rebuttal by Pakistan’s Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan to President Donald Trump’s biased and reckless allegations pertaining to harbouring Al-Qaeda chief Bin Laden, senior officials of United States have approached Islamabad to defuse the tensions, well-informed sources told our correspondent.

While praising Pakistan’s unrivalled sacrifices in anti-terror campaign, the officials informed Pakistani counterparts that Washington would require Islamabad’s additional assistance in the future too.

The US officials—in their written reply—promised ‘to inform President Trump about sacrifices rendered by Pakistan’.

The officials also stated that US would continue to engage with Islamabad on diplomatic channels.

Earlier, the on-off relationship between Pakistan and US dipped to new low after President Trump extended his proclivity of picking Twitter fights while accusing Pakistan of doing nothing for US despite receiving billions in aid.

Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan took strong exception to Trump’s accusations while apprising the president that Pakistan had lost over $123 bln in so-called War on Terror.  

Earlier today, The US Chargé D Affaires Ambassador Paul Jones was summoned to Foreign Office on Tuesday and a strong protest was lodged with him on the unwarranted and unsubstantiated allegations made against Pakistan by the US President Donald Trump.

Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua conveyed the Government s disappointment on the recent tweets and comments by the US President and told him that such baseless rhetoric about Pakistan is totally unacceptable.

Rejecting the insinuations about Osama bin Laden, Foreign Secretary reminded the US diplomat that it was Pakistan s intelligence cooperation that provided the initial evidence to trace the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden.

She told the US that no other country had paid a heavier price than Pakistan in the fight against terrorism.

The US leadership had acknowledged on multiple occasions that Pakistan s cooperation had helped in decimating the core Al-Qaeda leadership and eradicating the threat of terrorism from the region.

The US must not forget that scores of top Al-Qaeda leaders were killed or captured by active Pakistani cooperation. Pakistan s continued support to the efforts of international community in Afghanistan through Ground, Air and Sea lines of communication was unquestionably critical to the success of this Mission in Afghanistan.

The Foreign Secretary maintained that in the wake of recent US pronouncements to seek political settlement in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the US were working in close coordination with other regional stake holders in order to end the prolonged conflict.

She said at this critical juncture, baseless allegations about a closed chapter of history could seriously undermine this vital cooperation.