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FILE PHOTO: A Pakistan Air Force member salutes the national flag raised in front of Muhammad Ali Jinnah's mausoleum during Defense Day ceremonies or Pakistan Memorial Day in Karachi, Pakistan, September 6, 2018. REUTERS / Akhtar Soomro
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan on Tuesday summoned the US Chargé d'Affaires to Islamabad to protest President Donald Trump's criticism of Pakistan's role in the fight against terrorism and the killing of Osama bin Laden.
Trump's comments in recent days have angered Pakistan, including Prime Minister Imran Khan, who replied on Twitter on Monday that few allies had sacrificed or helped the United States as much as Pakistan in its war on terror. , making 75,000 victims.
The frictions threaten to aggravate the already fragile relations between Islamabad and Washington, occasional allies who have clashed repeatedly about the war in Afghanistan and the alleged support of Pakistan to Islamist militants.
Foreign Minister Tehmina Janjua called on US envoy Paul Jones "to demonstrate emphatically against unfounded and unjustified accusations against Pakistan". The Pakistani Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Over the weekend, Trump said in an interview that Pakistan was "doing nothing" for the United States despite billions of dollars in US aid, and that Pakistani officials would have known about it. location of former al Qaeda leader, bin Laden, prior to his assassination by US troops. during a raid inside Pakistan in 2011.
On Monday, Trump tweeted again and doubled on these requests.
"Rejecting insinuations on OBL, the Foreign Minister reminded the Chargé d'Affaires (United States) that it was Pakistan's intelligence cooperation that provided the initial evidence to locate the owner of the OBL. "said the ministry.
On Tuesday, Pakistani army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, not to mention Trump, said that "Pakistan has done a lot more for peace in Afghanistan" than any other country.
"We have paid the highest military, economic, political and social costs and the whole world should recognize it," Bajwa said, according to comments by army spokesman General Asif Ghafoor.
Reportage of Drazen Jorgic; Edited by Nick Macfie
