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From our bases, you carried out 57,800 attacks on Afghanistan: Pak Foreign minister replies to Trump

New Delhi: In response to US President Donald Trump’s accusations that Pakistan has been fooling them, the country’s Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif in a series of tweets said that United States carried out 57,800 attacks on Afghanistan from Pak bases.

“You ask what we’ve done?… From our bases you carried out 57,800 attacks on Afghanistan…thousands of our civilians and soldiers became victims of the war initiated by you,” Asif tweeted.

Pakistan’s foreign minister repeatedly talked of Pakistanis’ sacrifices. And directly in response to Trump’s words, said his own version of the US President’s “No more!”

“Our forces are fighting an unusual war, there is an unending saga of sacrifices. Now, history teaches us not to blindly trust the US. We are feeling sorry they are not happy, but we will not compromise on our dignity anymore,” said Asif.

Asif began his series of tweets by taking a shot at former President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf, the man in charge of the countrywhen the 9/11 terror attacks occurred in New York.

“A ruler surrendered in a single phone call, our country, we went through the worst bloodbath,” said Asif, about Musharraf.

Asif implied that if anyone was a fool it was Pakistan for getting involved in the US’s war.

“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!,” tweeted Trump, bright and early on January 1, 2018.

Trump’s blistering words didn’t go down well with anyone in Pakistan. Asif, in fact, responded almost immediately to Trump’s tweet.

“Will let the world know the truth…(the) difference between facts & fiction,” said Asif on Monday.
Then, a day and half later, he expanded on what he believes is the truth.

“We stood by you, considered your enemy our own. We filled Guantanamo Bay,” said Asif, talking about the detention camp which was opened on January 11, 2002.

Pakistan’s foreign minister is referring to his country’s cooperation in helping the US find terrorists and war criminals and dispatching them to the prison established by then US President George W. Bush’s administration during its ‘war on terror’, an international military campaign to hunt down “a radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them.”

As per a February 2017 report in The New York Times, Afghans were the largest group (29 percent) in Guantanamo, followed by Saudi Arabians (17 percent), Yemenis (15 percent) and Pakistanis (9 percent).

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