Pakistan responds to Trump’s tweet: US has 'given us nothing but invective and mistrust'

Pakistan on Monday tweeted a response to President Trump’s assertion that the nation has “given us nothing but lies & deceit” while providing, “safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan.”

“Pak as anti-terror ally has given free to US: land & air communication, military bases & intel cooperation that decimated Al-Qaeda over last 16yrs, but they have given us nothing but invective & mistrust. They overlook cross-border safe havens of terrorists who murder Pakistanis,” Pakistan’s defense minister wrote on Twitter.

It’s unclear what prompted Trump to make his Monday morning comment, but it did come just days after the New York Times reported that the U.S. may delay a $225 million aid payment to the nation.

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According to the Times, which cited U.S. officials, the Trump administration has been considering withholding the money, “as a show of dissatisfaction with Pakistan’s broader intransigence toward confronting the terrorist networks that operate there.”

The president has expressed his frustration with Pakistan in the past.

“We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting. But that will have to change, and that will change immediately,” Trump said in August. “No partnership can survive a country’s harboring of militants and terrorists who target U.S. servicemembers and officials. It is time for Pakistan to demonstrate its commitment to civilization, order, and to peace.”