From the Liveblog of
Monday, January 1, 2018
Trump slams Pakistan for ‘lies & deceit’ in New Year’s tweet
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleISLAMABAD — US President Donald Trump slams Pakistan for “lies & deceit” in a New Year’s Day tweet that said Islamabad had played US leaders for “fools.”
“No more,” Trump tweets.
The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2018
Meanwhile, Pakistan has no official comment but Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif tweets that his government was preparing a response that “will let the world know the truth.”
The uneasy relationship between the United States and Pakistan has been on a downward spiral since the 2011 US operation that located and killed Osama bin Laden in the military garrison town of Abbottabad, about 118 kilometers (65 miles) from the capital Islamabad.
Trump ratcheted up the pressure last year when he announced his Afghan strategy that called out Pakistan for harboring Afghan Taliban insurgents, warning it would have to end.
— AP
The Times of Israel Community.