Daily Times

RAWALPINDI: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Tuesday said that Pakistan has paid the highest military, economic, political and social cost and the world should acknowledge it.

In an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement, the COAS said that Pakistan has successfully fought against terrorism while also contributing to regional peace.

The COAS stated that Pakistan has done much more for peace in Afghanistan than any other country.

“Pakistan’s contributions towards peace in Afghanistan would not come at the cost of its own honour or security,” said Gen Bajwa.

Earlier, in an angry retort to Donald Trump’s rants against Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday asked the US president to put his record straight, reminding him that Islamabad joined the US-led war against terrorism even though no Pakistani was involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

“Record needs to be put straight on Mr Trump’s tirade against Pakistan as no Pakistani was involved in 9/11 but Pakistan decided to participate in US War on Terror; Pakistan suffered 75,000 casualties in this war and over $123 billion loss was inflicted to its economy and US “aid” was a miniscule $20 billion,” the prime minister said in a series of tweets.

“Instead of making Pakistan a scapegoat for their failures, the US should do a serious assessment of why, despite 140,000 NATO troops plus 250,000 Afghan troops and reportedly $1 trillion spending on war in Afghanistan, the Taliban today are stronger than before,” he continued.

The prime minister said Pakistan’s tribal areas were devastated and millions of people uprooted from their homes. “The war drastically impacted lives of ordinary Pakistanis,” he added. “Pakistan continues to provide free lines of ground and air communications (GLOCs/ALOCs),” he said. “Can Mr Trump name another ally that gave such sacrifices?” he questioned.

The prime minister in another tweet in the evening further said, “Trump’s false assertions add insult to the injury Pakistan has suffered in US War on Terror in terms of lives lost and destabilized and economic costs.” “He needs to be informed about historical facts. Pakistan has suffered enough fighting US’s war. Now we will do what is best for our people and our interests,” he maintained.

The prime minister’s tweets came after the US President Donald Trump, in an interview with Fox News aired on November 18, accused Pakistan of not doing “a damn thing for us” and defended his administration’s decision to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Islamabad.