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U.S. President Donald Trump and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. Image via Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain/CC-BY.
A heated Twitter exchange between Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan and U.S. President Donald Trump over the past few days has stirred controversy on social media — the two going tit-for-tat on matters better suited for diplomatic channels.
“Pakistan doesn't do a damn thing for us”, said U.S. President Donald Trump in a recent interview with Fox News.
Trump: “[Osama bin Laden] lived in Pakistan. We're supporting Pakistan. We gave them $1.3 billion dollars a year, which we don't give them anymore by the way. I ended it, because they don't do anything for us. They don't do a damn thing for us.” pic.twitter.com/t65RNoASaR
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) November 18, 2018
Trump added that credit goes to the SEAL Team Six for capturing and killing Osama bin Laden — a wanted terrorist and head of Al-Qaeda —when they raided his compound in Abbottabad in 2011 and found him hiding in a mansion very close to Pakistan Military Academy — suggesting that Pakistan was merely harboring Osama bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda members with impunity.
Trump’s tirade is the latest in a long history of lack of trust between the two countries post-September 11, 2001, when two hijacked commercial airplanes rammed into the World Trade Center in New York City. A third plane crashed into the Pentagon and another was shot down near Washington D.C. These four airplanes were flown by 19 members of Al-Qaeda.
After the attacks, then-president George W. Bush declared war against terrorism and put nations around the globe on notice by adding: “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.”
Pakistan agreed to cooperate with the United States on the protracted war on terror, becoming a strategic ally while suffering major casualties and economic losses.
Public and private accusations and counter-accusations have been a routine part of Pakistan-U.S. relations since 2001, yet Pakistan has given the U.S. significant support in the war against terror and the U.S. has also given significantly to Pakistan through the Coalition Support Fund.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan responded to Trump's accusations by tweeting:
https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1064482777054220289
https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1064483393335898113
https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1064483937270018048
Pakistan’s Human Rights Minister Ms. Shireen Mazari also tweeted:
https://twitter.com/ShireenMazari1/status/1064353325146169345
In response to PM Imran Khan's tweet, Donald Trump responded:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1064540462848098304
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1064544156960387072
In a reply tweet, Imran Khan said that Pakistan will do what is best for its people:
https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1064556017881686021
As soon as the world leaders began sparring on Twitter, Pakistani citizens weighed in on the controversial exchange: some praised Khan for standing up to the ‘do more’ demands of the U.S., while others condemned him for responding at all.
Sadaf Khan Nawaid said:
Prime Minister Imran Khan Destroyed US President Trump Narrative about Pakistan.
Finally Pentagon admitted
Pakistan Critical Partner to US
South Asia Strategy.#NayaPakistan #PMIK pic.twitter.com/eX7lNFzhkN— Sadaf Khan Nawaid (@sadafnawaid) November 20, 2018
General Ghulam Mustafa, a retired Pakistan army officer had this to say:
https://twitter.com/_GhulamMustafa_/status/1064947718324400129
Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia program and South Asia senior associate at The Wilson Center chimed in:
https://twitter.com/MichaelKugelman/status/1064524599004749825
A number of memes circulated to lighten up the mood:
https://twitter.com/Iam_TeamIK/status/1064519295009460224
https://twitter.com/Wafiaman/status/1064640573943021568
Former president of Pakistan Gen. Pervez Musharraf wrote in his memoir, “In the Line of Fire”, that the Americans told him: “If we chose the terrorists, then we should be prepared to be bombed back to the Stone Age.”
Since then, Pakistan has become a strategic ally in the “global war on terror,” which has cost Pakistan over 70 thousand deaths, economic loss, and social destruction.
3 comments
Cyber Wars have a new meaning, but let’s first get our facts straight. The Fourth Plane was NOT shot down outside DC, rather the passengers revolted and the plane crashed in a field in PA. Now, back to the twits war with words …
Correction: “A third plane crashed into the Pentagon and another was shot down near Washington D.C.”
The fourth passenger plane plunged into a field in Pennsylvania some distance from Washington D.C. The passengers and crew tried to retake the plane from the hijackers. It was not “shot down.”
The war on terror was a guaranteed disaster before it even started. America needs to stop pretending it can solve other people’s problems and concentrate on its own.
And Pakistan needs to stop pretending it has good governance which looks first toward how it can make the lives of its citizens better off.
And citizens of both countries need to quit whining when their elected ‘leaders’ give them exactly what they asked for.