Pakistan is an important ally of US in South Asia: Pentagon
Manning maintained that Pakistan and US has mutual interests in the region.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – After Prime Minister Imran Khan lashed out at President Donald Trump’s diatribe against Pakistan, Pentagon asserted on Tuesday that Pakistan is an important ally of United States in South Asia’s strategy.
Col. Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman and Director of Defense Press Operations for the U.S. Department of Defense, said this in an off camera news conference.
Responding to a question over Trump’s interview to Fox News, Manning maintained that Pakistan and US has mutual interests in the region whereas no change has occurred in their military ties.
In an interview on Sunday, the Republican leader had said he canceled assistance worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Pakistan earlier this year because "they don’t do anything for us, they don’t do a damn thing for us."
Trump had also told Fox News that bin Laden had lived "beautifully in Pakistan and what I guess in what they considered a nice mansion. I don’t know, I’ve seen nicer."
PM Imran Khan hit back at Trump’s claim, calling on the president to name an ally that has sacrificed more against militancy.
"Pakistan suffered 75,000 casualties in this war & over $123 bn was lost to economy. US ‘aid’ was a miniscule $20 bn," Khan tweeted.
Trump; however, continued his diatribe against Pakistan and repeated that Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, killed by US Navy SEALs in May 2011, should have been captured much earlier, casting blame on his predecessors and Pakistan.
"Of course we should have captured Osama Bin Laden long before we did," the US president tweeted, echoing remarks he gave to "Fox News Sunday" that drew the ire of Pakistan, where bin Laden had been hiding.
"I pointed him out in my book just BEFORE the attack on the World Trade Center," he continued.
"President Clinton famously missed his shot. We paid Pakistan Billions of Dollars & they never told us he was living there. Fools!"
Khan while firing back to the tweets said, “Trump’s false assertions add insult to the injury Pak has suffered in US WoT in terms of lives lost & destabilised & economic costs. He needs to be informed abt historical facts. Pak has suffered enough fighting US s war. Now we will do what is best for our people & our interests.”
