Pak foreign minister says will soon show Trump difference between fact and fiction

ISLAMABAD: Foreign minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif responded to President saying that Pakistan would “soon” show the world the “difference between facts and fiction”.“We will respond to President Trump’s tweet shortly inshallah,” Asif tweeted minutes after Trump accused Pakistan of being deceitful. “We’ll let the world know the truth... the difference between facts and fiction,” he added.A foreign office spokesman said that the ministry will soon respond to President Trump’s accusation that Islamabad was giving Washington “nothing but lies and deceit” despite receiving billions of dollars American aid. Trump said that Washington had foolishly given Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid over the last 15 years, but Pakistan had given “safe haven to terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help”.While some observers pointed at gaps in Pakistan’s foreign policy, several politicians and analysts stressed that Islamabad should come up with a much stronger narrative to counter Trump’s onslaught.Sherry Rehman, a senator and former ambassador to the US, said Pakistan was in a difficult situation internationally due to gaps in its foreign policy.“Due to absence of a foreign minister for four years and lack of a dedicated lobbyist in the US, Pakistan had completely left the ground,” Rehman said.“While formulating a reply to the US, Pakistan needs to adopt a balanced stance — neither too aggressive nor too defensive,” she said.Analyst Zahid Hussain said that considering President Trump’s voice is getting shriller, his latest statement was not surprising.“Pakistan has other options. It can sustain itself without US aid just as it had during the 1990s, when it faced all sorts of sanctions from the US and the rest of the world,” he told reporters.Shah Mahmood Qureshi, former foreign minister and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) vice chairman, criticised the government for not responding to Trump’s tweet swiftly.“Pakistan needs to look to regional powers like China, Iran, Turkey and even the European Union who understand regional situation and Pakistan’s position much better,” he said.During the announcement, Trump reminded Pakistan of its obligation to help America “because it receives massive payments” from Washington every year.“We have made clear to Pakistan that while we desire continued partnership, we must see decisive action against terrorist groups operating on their territory. And we make massive payments every year to Pakistan. They have to help,” the US president had said.One of the harshest warning to Islamabad came from US Vice President Mike Pence, who in a surprise visit to Afghanistan’s Bagram airbase on December 22, warned that “Trump has put Pakistan on notice”.The Trump administration, agencies reported, was also considering withholding $255 million from a fund meant to provide military training and equipment to Pakistan, adding to already existing cuts on reimbursements.The Pakistan Army spokesman, Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, at a press conference last week asserted that the aid Pakistan received from the US was “reimbursement for support we gave to the coalition for its fight against Al Qaeda”.“Had we not supported the US and Afghanistan, they would never have been able to defeat Al Qaeda,” he had said.