KARACHI: A day after the Foreign Office issued a strongly
worded statement in response to the US assertion about “putting Pakistan
on notice” over alleged terrorist safe havens, Foreign Minister Khawaja
Asif on Saturday hit out at the US administration, asking it to learn
from Pakistan’s experiences in the war against terrorism instead of
threatening it.
In a statement on his official Twitter
account, the minister said: “Dont blame or threat[en] us, learn from our
experiences in war against terror... if that is our common objective.”
On
Friday, US Vice President Mike Pence — during an unannounced visit to
Afghanistan — alleged that Pakistan had for too long provided safe
havens to terrorists but those days were over, as President Donald Trump
had “put Pakistan on notice”.
“Pakistan has much to
gain from partnering with the United States, and Pakistan has much to
lose by continuing to harbour criminals and terrorists,” he said while
addressing US troops at Bagram airbase.
Referring to Mr
Pence’s ‘warning’, Mr Asif said “frustrations on diplomatic front in UN
and war in Afghanistan are reflected in statements of US
administration”.
Also on Friday, Inter-Services Public
Relations chief Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said that the United States’
threats against Pakistan with respect to the latter’s alleged support
for militant groups could harm the existing coordination and cooperation
between the two countries.
